Ryan Garcia’s loss is Joseph Diaz Jr’s gain this Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, as the Californian challenges Devin Haney for the WBC Lightweight title in the main event of a decent card.
Haney’s world title defence against Diaz Jr is promoted by Matchroom Boxing and will be aired worldwide on DAZN.
Garcia beat Luke Campbell in January to win the WBC interim title and after bouts with Gervonta Davis and Manny Pacquiao failed to materialise, the 23-year-old was due to take on Javier Fortuna in July, but ‘King Ry’ withdrew due to personal issues.
In stepped Diaz Jr (32-1-1, 15 KOs) to take Garcia’s place, and his points win put him in pole position as mandatory challenger for Haney’s full title.
Garcia was set to take on Golden Boy stablemate ‘JoJo’ last month, but that fight was cancelled due the former suffering a hand injury and Diaz now meets ‘The Dream’ for the famous green strap.
The 29-year-old is a former WBA featherweight champion, and an IBF champion at super featherweight, dethroning the excellent Tevin Farmer in January 2020, but he lost that belt on the scales in his first defence, held to a draw by Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov, and he then moved up to 135 pounds to defeat Fortuna.
Haney (26-0, 15 KOs) and his handlers have firm sights on a mega meeting with recently crowned unified champion, George Kambosos Jr who dethroned Teofimo Lopez on Saturday, but first the Las Vegas-based 23-year old must get past his compatriot.
Haney was upgraded to full champion in October 2019, and has since made three successful defences, with points wins over Alfredo Santiago, Yuriorkis Gamboa and Jorge Linares in May.
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Prediction: Haney needs to keep his eye on the prize here, and he should have too much for Diaz Jr. He may have to overcome a sharp start by the Californian, but can pull away after halfway for a points win.
Love makes Matchroom debut
Montana Love (16-0-1, 8 KOs) scored an impressive win in his last fight, as he retired former world champion Ivan Baranchyk in seven rounds on the undercard of Jake Paul’s win over Tyron Woodley in August.
Prediction: The Cleveland super lightweight can take a points win against Mexico’s Carlos Diaz (29-1, 14 KOs) whose only loss came against Jose Zepeda in 2018.
McCaskill meets Wyatt
A wealth of gold is on offer at welterweight, as Jessica McCaskill puts her undisputed title up for grabs against late notice replacement Kandi Wyatt.
McCaskill (10-2, 3 KOs) superbly dethroned the previously untouchable Cecilia Braekhus in August 2020 with a majority verdict win, and ‘CasKILLA’ repeated the trick in March, this time widely on the cards.
Wyatt (10-3, 3 KOs) steps in for Victoria Noelia Bustos after the Argentine had difficulties in entering the country on fight week.
The Canadian has lost three of her last six, and two in a row, the last an eight round points reverse to Alma Ibarra in August.
The 30-year-old also came up short in a super lightweight world title bid to now-unified champion, Kali Reis prior to the Ibarra loss.
Prediction: McCaskill should ease to victory on the cards.
Hrgovic tackles Ahmatovic
Rising heavyweight hope Filip Hrgovic (13-0, 11 KOs) defends his IBF International title for a second time, and the Croatian shouldn’t have too many issues with late substitute, Emir Ahmatovic (10-0, 7 KOs).
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Prediction: It’s scheduled for ten, but Hrgovic can get the job done early.
Remaining Undercard
At middleweight, Austin Williams (8-0, 6 KOs) can take a points win over Quatavious Cash (14-2, 8 KOs), while Alexis Espino (9-0, 6 KOs) can do the same against Rodolfo Gomez Jr (14-5-1, 10 KOs).
Rising super featherweight star Marc Castro (4-0, 4 KOs) shouldn’t need all six rounds to score another early win against Ronaldo Solis (4-2-1, 3 KOs), and Ricardo Rafael Sandoval (19-1, 14 KOs) should take a points win over former world title challenger, Carlos Buitrago (32-6-1, 18 KOs).
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