When he stepped up to bat, the young All-Star baseball player from the troubled town of South El Monte, California, always landed on ‘first’. Either hitting a single or making the walk, arriving at his desired destination was key – taking it one base at a time. Valuing safety and success, he has continued progressing with every swing of his shoulders, despite battling bullying and suffering financial stress away from the batter’s box.
Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz (31-1, 15 KOs), the owner of various distinctive, multi-coloured hairstyles, speaks to Boxing Social as the reigning IBF super-featherweight champion after toppling Philadelphian Tevin Farmer convincingly five months ago. He’s found peace in creating his own character, but his journey started many years before, with his stomach rumbling and his confidence rocked by constant playground insults and subtle, physical attacks from his peers.
“I had a lot of tough, tough times growing up,” Diaz explained. “I was always brought up with my mom and my dad living together, and I grew up with three older sisters. My father was a truck driver, so he used to work 10, 11-hour days. And then, right after he used to get out of work, he would train me and make sure that I was always busy and I was always occupied.
“I grew up in a very respectful, loving family. But I grew up in South El Monte, and that’s a very tough neighbourhood in certain areas. My father, he had grown up in those tough areas, so he knew what it was to be like in those types of environments. He always wanted me to be different and he never wanted me to follow in his footsteps. There were times where I could have easily chosen the wrong way, hanging out with gangsters or with the wrong crowd, but I was very fortunate that I had such a good family.
“The reason I actually got into boxing was because I was always the smallest kid and I had a couple of bullies that used to pick on me. One day, I just couldn’t keep up with it. I couldn’t take it anymore, so I ended up confessing to my dad. I let him know about it, I showed him the bruises that I had, and he told me, ‘JoJo, you got to start putting your foot down. If you constantly let them pick on you, then your life’s going to be miserable. Even if you get beat up, as long as you make your point.’ I ended up beating a couple of bullies up and I just started growing this passion.”
Photo: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom Boxing USA.
The Joseph Diaz Jr. now shown dressed in designer clothing or enjoying vacations with his girlfriend is far removed from the little kid who spent evenings in the dark. Overcoming bigger classmates throwing shade at him in school was one thing, but understanding his family’s situation at home was altogether different. His father, Joseph Sr. was consistently hard-working, driving up and down the country with little rest. But the bills never slept either.
JoJo started establishing himself as a serious amateur prospect at age 17. He won the district, state and regional titles, finding himself a worthy entrant in Colorado Springs at the US National Championships. After surprising himself with solid performances in the tournament, Diaz decided to dedicate himself to a career in boxing, sealing a coveted spot on Team USA, which was accompanied with a monthly stipend meant for living expenses.
“There were some days where we didn’t have any food for like a week because my dad hadn’t been paid yet,” the 27-year old recalled. “We had to suffer. We didn’t have any electricity to watch TV, and I could see my dad really trying and grinding, day-in and day-out. Six people he had to take care of and he would make sure that he was trying to provide for everybody. I was like, ‘Man, I want to provide for my family’s future. I want to make sure that my sisters are okay. I want to make sure that my dad doesn’t have to stress out anymore’. At the end of the day, life is much bigger than that.
“They [Team USA] were paying me like $2,500 bucks a month. I was able to help out my parents financially, but I was able to focus on my training, every single day. I just feel like everything happens for a reason and I’m very blessed. Then, oh my God. Next thing I was actually in the Olympics! Now when I look back at that, I really appreciate everything that I’ve been through. Being disciplined and just sharing those moments with my stablemates. I had Errol Spence, Rau’shee Warren, Marcus Browne, all these guys are really tremendous fighters, but they’re actually go-getters.”
Diaz (left) would not be denied against Tevin Farmer.
Photo: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom Boxing USA.
His visit to London in the summer of 2012 catapulted Diaz onto the world stage as an amateur, becoming the first American to qualify for the Games. Appearances at the sport’s premier, amateur competition have resulted in boosted profiles and paychecks, and it was no different in the UK. He won his opener, beating Ukrainian-Israeli Pavlo Ischenko, but ran into a familiar foe in the second round, Cuba’s two-time Olympic bronze medallist, Lazaro Alvarez. The Californian’s trip to Europe was cut short at the hands of the experienced stylist.
Golden Boy Promotions snapped up JoJo shortly after his return to South El Monte, debuting as a professional in the December of 2012. During his first year, he amassed eight wins, fighting in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Cancun and Carson, gaining experience on the road that would later serve him well. Turning over as a professional had been Diaz’s goal since he was 17, after seeing the type of money that was on table and experiencing a lack of financial stability at home.
Dubbed boxing’s ‘next Golden Boy’ by his promoter and former superstar of the same moniker, Oscar De La Hoya, the young Mexican-American began making strides early on. He would beat the experienced Nicaraguan Rene Alvarado (W10) in July 2015, before capturing his first professional title two fights later, winning the NABF featherweight title when stopping Hugo Partida just five months later (TKO2). JoJo would add wins over Jayson Velez (W10), Andrew Cancio (WTKO9) and Victor Terrazas (WKO3), tearing down his path to an inevitable world title shot.
Diaz challenged Gary Russell Jr. for his WBC featherweight title in May 2018, but the defending champion from Maryland didn’t follow the script. “I don’t think it was because Gary Russell Jr. was too early for me. I feel like, mentally, the things that I was going through [in] my personal life had a major effect on me,” he said. “I wasn’t focused or devoted at that time. The fight with Gary, I wasn’t treating it like this was like my only opportunity in life. You’re only given a certain amount of chances. You got to take full responsibility and make sure that you’re not slacking off, so that when the opportunity does come, you have no doubt.
“I was dealing with a lot of things and I was slacking off with my diet. I wouldn’t say I was hard-headed or cocky, but I thought I already had it in the bag,” he continued. “I thought Gary Russell Jr. was doubting me and he wasn’t taking me at my best, so I thought I was going to be able to walk over him. I feel like I did drop him two times during that fight. And the referee didn’t call any knockdowns. I feel like I had a couple body shots where he did drop. I was fighting on the inside and I was able to land some effective body shots where I feel like I was hurting him. But then, in the later rounds, the referee wasn’t letting me get into that type of fight anymore.
“But at the end of the day, he did beat me and I have no regrets, I’m not the type of person that’s a sore loser. He ended up adapting and he adjusted and he overcame me. He was able to just utilise his jab and his quickness to keep me off because I was a little too gun-shy. I wasn’t opening it up as much. I wasn’t taking that world title championship fight as important as I should have.”
Just 20 months, four victories and one weight division down the line, the briefly crestfallen challenger would be presented with another of life’s ‘opportunities’. Another title fight, this time with Philadelphia’s Tevin Farmer – one of boxing’s greatest success stories of recent times.
Farmer had done things the hard way, finding himself saddled with a record of 7-4-1 after his first 12 professional fights. He never had a Team USA tracksuit or a bumper contract, but he always had plenty of heart. In August 2018, Farmer overcame Australian stalwart Billy Dib to win his world title and he’d been vocal about keeping it ever since. But Diaz had learnt from the fallout of his defeat to Russell Jr. and wasn’t willing to pass up a second chance.
Photo: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom Boxing USA.
In the pair’s gruelling encounter, Diaz would suffer a deep, ugly cut around the left eye, staining his bleached blonde hair with blood. His pressure and high-level ring craft led to a clear victory by unanimous decision. The judges awarded the contest to Diaz by two points (twice) and four points, and both Joseph Diaz Jr. and Sr. embraced – after achieving a feat that some had previously written off.
“Oh, man, it was just so good. It’s better than anything else that you could ever feel in this world,” Diaz explained, bursting with excitement when reliving his crowning moment. “Because of everything I’d been through, my whole life I was just focused on being a boxer and becoming a world champion. All the adversity, all the ups and downs, all I wanted was to become a world champion. For me to actually achieve that was just a dream come true. It was a weight off my back, knowing that I was able to accomplish that and show that to my parents and my family members. They were still there with me, through all the tough, tough times and they always believed in me.
“It was just a relief for me, and an unbelievable feeling [beating Tevin Farmer]. But this is not the end. I can’t dwell on that moment, anymore. Now there’s bigger things I gotta accomplish. I got to focus on defending it. I got to focus on being the best fighter that I can be for my next fight out. I can’t be slacking off at all. It’s just all about making sure that you’re embracing that moment, but knowing that life moves on.”
Diaz describes his emotions on becoming a world champion.
Photo: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom Boxing USA.
It’s been almost five months since the little kid from South El Monte thrust his new world title belt into the air, screaming in disbelief. He told Boxing Social of his plans to unify at 130lbs, before moving up to lightweight and possibly heavier, in search of legacy-defining fights. When discussing his plans for the future, Diaz spoke of entrepreneurism and a desire to make the “right investments” in order to secure his family’s future. It wasn’t all boxing. Ultimately though, JoJo is right – “life moves on”.
That struggling teen unable to bat off his bullies while succeeding in baseball would later beat it out of them in the boxing gyms of California. He was taunted on arrival back then, with peers asking, “You wanna spar JoJo? It looks like you wanna spar”. Following his father’s advice and biting down on his gumshield, Diaz’s hesitant response was always, “Yeah, we can spar”.
Fighting didn’t come easy, but nothing worth having ever does.