Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin: PPV Undercard Results Recap

JO JO DIAZ SPARS HIS WAY TO WBC TITLE SHOT

Joseph ‘Jo Jo’ Diaz Jr (25-0) ‎remained unbeaten as he sprinted by last- minute replacement Rafael ‘Big Bang’ (25-1-2) Rivera as the co-main event of the evening via an easy unanimous decision. The former  2012 U.S. Olympian made it look like a hard night of sparring by securing a win with scores of 120-108, 119-109 and 119-109 round in the WBC world championship eliminator.

Diaz Jr boxed circles around his man landing at will for 36 minutes by popping a solid jab and sticking and moving . Rivera was never in the fight and gets the moral victory of being a co-headliner to the biggets boxing fight of the year. The exposure and attention will surely raise his stock and recognition but not much further than ‘the guy Diaz beat’ on the Canelo vs. Golovkin pay per view. After the fight Joseph Diaz Jr thanked Rivera for taking the match and was ecstatic about being next in line for title holder, Garry Russell Jr.

 

Joseph Diaz Jr.:

“I feel like I had a good performance overall. I was able to put pressure and dictate the pace of the fight, and be able to enter into a lot of exchanges. Rivera is strong, has good body shots, and had good speed. I think we gave them a good show tonight.”

 

Rafael Rivera:

“I feel that trying to make weight in time for the fight really drained me and I wasn’t able to perform at my tiptop best. Other than that, I believe we did good despite the circumstances.”

DIEGO MAKES EASY WORK OF CABALLERO

Diego De La Hoya (20-0) kept his perfect record intact tonight ‎handing Randy Caballero (24-1) his first professional defeat by way of a clear-cut unanimous decision as they battled it out over 10 rounds for the vacant NABO and NABF super bantamweight titles. De La Hoya acquired both belts thanks to scores of 100-90, 98-92 and 98-92 from the night’s judges who clearly favored the Mexicali representative’s solid defense and powerful ‎right hand that rarely missed. Whether Diego was leading with the blow or countering with it, he was landing in almost every round. He timed ‘The Matador’ Caballero and gave him the horns in form of a crushing over hand right, short counter and right hook that had Caballero’s left eye badly swollen by the start of Round 6.

To his credit Randy Caballero never let up on his approach of coming forward and didn’t take many  steps backwards. Both up and coming stars marched towards one another which sadly caused multiple headbutts along the way. All unintentional nevertheless, undoubtedly taking away from the momentum of a very entertaining and action-packed match. The Californian’s best moments came when he jabbed his way in and clinched to nulify his opponent’s  attack, slowing down Diedo De La Hoya to an extent. Caballero really looked good when he fought at his distance, letting his hands go and putting his combinations together. However, when  De La Hoya closed the distance and jabbed his way into his man’s chest, he strung together some great combos attacking the head and body.  ‎His outpouring of punches; jabs and hooks and some uppercuts on the inside put Caballero ina box as Diego cruised to a unanimous decision victory.

Randy Caballero:

The winners tonight are the fans. When we did this fight, we knew it was going to be a great opportunity to put on a good show. Diego is a good kid, and a great fighter and I wish him the best.

 

Diego De La Hoya:

I trained for this fight, knowing it was going to be a really great battle. All my sacrifice, I fueled into this fight.

 

MARTIN ESCAPES FIRST LOSS VIA SPLIT VERDICT

Ryan Martin (20-0) took on Francisco Rojo (19-3)‎ in a WBC Continental America’s and vacant WBA Intercontinental lightweight title as the opening match of the Canelo vs. Golovkin pay-per-view event from inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV. The match served as a feature for GGG Promotions fighter, Martin, and to showcase him on  his PPV debut in front of 22,000 plus who attended the show.

Well, someone forgot to tell ‎Mexico City’s Francisco Rojo who gave his man all that he could handle over the course of 30 minutes.  Rojo was the shorter man and gave up reach also but, he operated masterfully on the inside with a solid left hook by forcing his man to watch for an overhand right. The Mexican warrior would load up on it like a baseball pitch and rake his man with it then come back moments later in a hunched over stance feinting with the same shot only to rip a short left hook to the body. That worked about a dozen times and mixed in with his crisp jab and amazing condition to constantly move in using angles, made the bout very interesting. His momentum overwhelmed the Tennessee man so badly that Martin stared forcing his own left hook to the body in round 6 through 8. However, they were nowhere near as well timed as Rojo’s so he kept landing low and Russell Mora repeatedly warned him for it.

In Round 9, Martin. Was deducted a point for hitting below the belt line after a left hook from the Chattanooga‎ native landed so low it stopped Rojo dead in his tracks and the referee had no choice but to call time and address the foul. That incidentally made Martin put in over time; he stood tall and began launching multiple combinations at his man likely in an effort to win the fight. He doubled his output and never let of the gas as the bout ended with him in full attack with 3 and 4-punch combinations.