Results & Highlights: Diaz-Rakhimov draw, Castano wins WBO belt

Joseph Diaz Jr missed weight on Friday and was unable to retain his IBF junior lightweight title, but Shavkat Rakhimov also failed to urge the judges to take it for himself, leaving the belt of 130 pounds vacant after a majority draw on DAZN. .

The judges had the bout 114-114, 114-114 and 115-113, the last card for Diaz. Bad Left Hook scored the fight 116-112 and 116-112 on separate cards, both giving the fight to Diaz, for what it’s worth. DAZN’s Chris Mannix got it 114-114.

Diaz (31-1-1, 15 KOs) was nearly four pounds overweight on Friday, but that didn’t seem to really affect his performance in the ring, although it often is, especially when fighters don’t try. not gaining weight. a second time with an additional oil change over a few hours. (In this case, since Diaz exceeded the limit by more than two pounds, the commission does not allow a subsequent attempt to weigh.)

Diaz did the IBF day two weight control as usual, for what it’s worth, as did Rakhimov (15-0-1, 12 KOs), the 26-year-old Russian netting his first chance at a world title.

The fight was fought at a solid pace, but perhaps with less sustained action than one would have hoped for. A good fight, but never fully taken off, and it was even on the stats, for what it’s worth. Nobody did any major damage, the fight didn’t have a lot of huge drama, but it was fought well and both have proven their quality, although Diaz will walk away with the asterisk here no matter what.

Diaz landed 233 of 740 (32%) of his total shots versus CompuBox, and 193 of 468 (41%) of his powerful shots. Rakhimov landed 213 of 951 (22%) in total and 169 of 536 (32%) punches, so Diaz was more run, while Rakhimov threw more. Diaz also seemed to land most of the toughest punches in the fight, the most telling punches.

Diaz, provoking in the ring and looking to put the best possible footing, was also provocative in his post-fight interview with DAZN’s Beto Duran. He said, of course, that he thought he had done enough to win, but also discussed his reported issues out of the ring – he called that “bullshit” “Don King’s greedy motherfuckers” – and didn’t said he was disappointed. of not doing weight, complaining about the setup at Fantasy Springs.

“I am not at all disappointed. I know who I am. I work hard, man, I’m a hard worker. I am a disciplined fighter, ”Diaz said.

“It just wasn’t my night. I couldn’t do the weight like before. They don’t have a sauna here, they made me walk into my room with the fucking heater on. It was completely different from what a professional world title fight should be. I had to try to adjust to it, but my body just felt weak and I couldn’t do it. My health is more important. I’ve always been here and have fought, and I’m not going to risk my life trying to make the weight, really burn out and hurt myself in the ring. There is no need to please anyone. I do this for myself and my family. This is the person I need to look for, myself and no one else.

It must be said that Rakhimov had the same conditions in the last days as Diaz and gained weight without a problem, as did the other fighters on the map. How much you take away from Diaz’s statements will be up to you, but I guess he didn’t end up being loved by fans – I guess he doesn’t care about that as well.

Brian Castano UD-12 Patrick Teixeira

Tom Hogan-HoganPhotos / Golden Boy Promotions

Castano (17-0-1, 12 KOs) was the challenger here, but a big favorite, and the reasons he played in the ring. With all due respect Teixeira (31-2, 22 KOs), who is tough as hell and had the WBO belt, he was one of the weakest title holders in the sport, winning a title acting against an unproven marginal contender in 2019, then being high when Jaime Munguia increased weight.

Castano simply outclassed Teixeira here, winning on scores of 117-111, 119-109 and 120-108, and Bad Left Hook had him 119-109 on two separate cards, me and Wil giving Teixeira the first round , then nothing after.

Castano can now head to an undisputed 154 title fight against Jermell Charlo, the WBC, WBA and IBF title list, as both are PBC fighters, Castano fighting on the Golden Boy card here because he was a mandatory challenger, and Golden Boy won the scholarship offer. He’s probably underdog against Charlo, but it’s about as good as you can get at 154 now, and not just because of the belts. Castano is a very good fighter, arguably was a bit unlucky to only get a draw with Erislandy Lara in 2019, and also has a strong win over Michel Soro from 2017, where he left for France and won a decision against a good fighter, not at all easy to do.

Teixeira absolutely gave this fight a playful effort and tried all the time, but he just wasn’t in Castano’s league. Both guys were busy, but Castano was busier and more precise, and landed a lot more powerful punches. CompuBox saw Castano land 373 of 1,136 (33%) of his total hits and 344 of 927 (37%) of his power hits, with Teixeira at 197 of 972 (20%) in total and 149 of 588 (25%) of its power strikes.

Ronny Rios UD-10 Oscar Negrete

Tom Hogan-HoganPhotos / Golden Boy Promotions

Kind of a disappointing fight for me as a fan, I thought there could be more fire, more trading in this one. But it was a good, consistent and well-executed fight from Rios (33-3, 16 KOs), who really came back strong in his career and is now very relevant in the 122-pound division, a guy who could easily fight. for a title again.

Negrete (19-3-2, 7 KOs) was climbing in weight here, and the 33-year-old Colombo-American had himself been on good form, winning a contested 0-1-2 in three fights with Joshua Franco then beating Alberto Melian about a year ago.

But Rios controlled this fight from front to back, winning by scores of 99-91, 100-90 and 100-90. Bad Left Hook also had 100-90 for Rios, who beat Negrete nearly 2 to 1 (290-150) overall, and more than 2 to 1 (268-118) in power. Rios did a great job on the body, landing 125 body shots in total against 29 from Negrete.

Rios wasn’t all smiles after the fight, however, feeling he could have performed better.

“I want to improve myself,” said Rios. “Today I’m giving myself a C, I’m tough on myself and could have done a lot better. Negrete is so tough, but I have to see the tape again. No one is harder on himself than me!

When asked where he wanted to go next, Rios pointed to unified WBA and IBF title holder Murodjon Akhmadaliev, who is with Matchroom and DAZN, and could be a relatively easy fight to fight.

“It’s a fight I want,” Rios said. “If we can do it, let’s go, but if not, anyone with a belt. Whoever is considered the hardest.

Undercard results

• Shane Mosley Jr TKO-5 Cristian Olivas: This one was stopped after the fifth round, as referee Thomas Taylor had rightly seen enough, and Olivas’ corner was ready to stop him too, as Olivas clearly couldn’t see with his left eye. beaten. Olivas (20-8, 17 KOs) made the best effort he could on short notice, replacing Jason Quigley, but there wasn’t much he could do. He did well in the first two laps, but once Mosley (17-3, 10 KOs) warmed up and did some damage, he focused and finished strong. Olivas, 29, is a tough dude, had never been stopped before, and he wasn’t going to stop or get off easily, but Mosley, 30, just took him down. Good performance from the second generation fighter, who – if we’re being honest – will never be mistaken for his father, but he’s a game, a tough, hard-working guy who has fought through adversity and has become a better fighter by learning about work as a pro.

• Bektemir Melikuziev TKO-3 Morgan Fitch: An easy night’s work for Melikuziev (7-0, 6 KOs), who was to fight Sergey Kovalev at the end of January in Russia, before Kovalev failed a PED test. So Melikzuiev, the 24-year-old super middleweight / light heavyweight southpaw from Uzbekistan, made a pretty drastic decision for his first fight of 2021, against Fitch (19-5-1, 8 KOs), who took this on short notice. This is Fitch’s fifth loss in his last six fights, and once he started to feel Melikuziev’s power, that was about it. Fitch, 37, had already taken a knee in third and picked up one again after a body shot that might well have strayed low, but he was also not arguing with referee Jack Reiss over the stop. It was an explosion, which was expected.