Joseph Diaz Jr. vs. Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov: time, how to watch, background
JOSEPH DIAZ JR. VS. SHAVKATDZHON RAKHIMOV
Joseph Diaz Jr. (31-1, 15 KOs) will defend his 130-pound title against Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov (15-0, 12 KOS) on Saturday night.
Joseph Diaz Jr. (left) outpointed Tevin Farmer to win his first major world title. Lester Silva-Hoganphotos-Golden Boy
Date: Saturday, Feb. 13 Time: 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT (main event later in show) Where: Fantasy Springs, Indio, Calif. TV/Stream: DAZN ($19.99 per month or $99 annually) Division: Junior lightweight (130 pounds) At stake: Diaz’s IBF title Pound-for-poundranking: None Odds: Diaz 2-1 favorite Also on the card: Patrick Teixeira vs. Brian Castano, junior middleweights (for Teixeira’s WBO title), Ronny Rios vs. Oscar Negrete, junior featherweights; Jason Quigley vs. Shane Mosley Jr., middleweights Prediction: Smith KO 9 Background: Diaz is coming off his break-through victory, a unanimous decision over Tevin Farmer to win a major 130-pound title in January of last year. The 2012 U.S. Olympian had lost to 126-pound champ Gary Russell Jr. in his only other title shot. Diaz, 28, has won five consecutive fights since that setback. Rakhimov is a 26-year-old former amateur standout from Tajikistan. He is coming off an eight-round knockout of Azinga Fuzile in September 2019 in South Africa, his only fight outside Russia. This is Rakhimov’s first world title fight. In the co-feature, Patrick Teixeira (31-1, 22 KOs) last fought in November 2019, when he narrowly outpointed Carlos Adames to win the WBO “interim” title. The Brazilian was later elevated to full champion. Castano (16-0-1, 12 KOs) is coming off a fifth-round stoppage of Wale Omotoso in November 2019. He recently gave strong performances against Michel Soro (SD victory) Erislandy Lara (SD draw) to move into the WBO’s No. 1 position at junior middleweight.