Diaz KO’s Terrazas, Calls Out Russell, Jr.

By Marc Livitz: 2012 USA Olympian Joseph “JoJo” Diaz, Jr. stayed unbeaten at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California on Thursday evening with a third round knockout victory over Victor Terrazas. The win put Diaz, Jr. in line as the mandatory challenger for the WBC featherweight title.

Virtually every moment of the contest easily belonged to “JoJo”, who was making his first appearance since last September, when he was featured as part of the undercard of the middleweight world championship bout between Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Gennady “GGG” Golovkin in Las Vegas. Southpaw Diaz (26-0, 14 KO’s) used his right jab to navigate in and out of range of the former WBC world super bantamweight champion from Jalisco state in Mexico.

A body shot dropped “Vikingo” Terrazas (38-5-2, 21 KO’s) to a knee in the closing minute. The Guadalajara fighter took all nine seconds before rising, after which a left hook a just seconds later sent him to the canvas for a second time. As before, he made it to his feet and escaped the round.

As the second was underway, Victor tried to move his feet and hands rapidly in an attempt to confuse his 25 year old opponent. Diaz continued to snap the jab and dig to the body of Terrazas throughout the round. He began to take full advantage of Victor’s habit of briefly dropping his hands after he threw the jab. Head shots were beginning to land more frequently as the third round began.

One last body shot was made possible by a well placed combination. A left to the liver was thrown down and around the elbow of Terrazas’s right arm and it was the difference maker. As before, he was dropped to a knee, yet he didn’t try to get back to his feet. The count reached ten from referee Eddie Hernandez to award the TKO win and a successful defense of his NABF as well as NABO featherweight titles to Joseph Diaz, Jr. at the 2:45 mark of round three.

“Gary, let’s make the fight happen. No more talking. Sign the papers and let’s get it on,” said Diaz, Jr. after the contest as he implored current WBC featherweight champion to fight him.

“We’ve had very effective sparring and that allowed me to pick my shots tonight. I learned that I can’t take anyone lightly. He (Terrazas) caught me with some shots that I definitely felt. I’m ready to fight Gary Russell, Jr., Leo Santa Cruz and all the champions in the division.”