Jesus Perez claimed a huge split-decision upset victory over JoJo Diaz Thursday night
JoJo Diaz faced off against Jesus Perez on Thursday, February 15 in Commerce Casino, California. Diaz went into the fight a huge favourite.
The 31-year-old may have lost three of his previous four bouts, but with the defeats coming by way of top opposition, he was still expected to have more than enough in his locker to neutralise his Mexican counterpart.
However, unfortunately for the American, Perez brought to the ring a work rate that he simply couldn’t match.
The fight started as planned for the favourite. The first three rounds were closely fought, but Diaz gave ‘Ricky’ problems with clean power punches. As the fight entered the fourth round the Mexican man’s game plan changed, focusing on volume rather than clean pocket punching.
The switch-up worked wonders for the underdog, the never-ending flurries coming his way clearly frustrated JoJo, as he angrily shoved his opponent through the ropes near the end of the fifth.
The fight continued much in the same manner; the American continued to look for a solution to Perez’s relentless work rate. He looked to have found one in the final round, boxing the best he had all night though it was too little too late, for a disgruntled Diaz.
The fight was scored 95-94, 94-96, and 90-99, the latter of the scorecards drawing criticism from pundits and fans alike.
Speaking after the bout, Perez appeared ecstatic with his victory.
“The work was shown tonight, I – like all fighters – had to push through difficult times, but we were able to push through to be able to get the victory tonight.
“My ultimate respect to JoJo Diaz, he is a warrior. I thought because he was the favourite, that he was going to win this close fight, but we didn’t stop and we fought for our dreams to come true.”