Joel Diaz knocks out toughest opponent of his career Emmanuel Lucero – Boxing news
Joel Diaz, the surging young American super featherweight, stunned the boxing universe by collecting an impressive rather intimidating technical knockout win over his career’s toughest opponent, Emmanuel Lucero, in the fifth round of the 10-round bout held
on June 2, 2012.
The above non-title bout headlined the pay-per-view which was organised and promoted by Brian Halquist of Brian Halquist Productions. The pay-per-view ‘Battle at the Boat 87’ was co-headlined by the six-round non-title bout between Natividad Serrano and
Osvaldo Rojas.
The ring for the showdown was set up at Emerald Queen Casino situated in Tacoma, Washington, United States and put forth the Tacoma boxing fans an epic show to remember.
Joel, 20, as far as the stats are concerned was seriously outclassed and overshadowed by Emmanuel’s experience, win and even the knockout ratio. In addition, the young Joel was also a bit short heighted than Lucero, a facet that can even change the fate
of the whole bout.
Despite the above and many other dismal aspects, Diaz Junior did not lose hope in fact attacked Lucero like a professional who has a huge resume in his gear. Lucero, 33, a veteran, was entering in his career’s 38th bout and it seemed that Joel was just a
sacrificial opponent for the Mexican so that he can make a comeback on the win track after receiving four consecutive losses.
But this did not happen at all. From the very first second, Joel adopted the role of an aggressor and viciously battered Lucero frequently with his powerful jabs. It must be noted that Joel has nailed eight of his nine opponents by sheer knockout.
Lucero, also known as ‘El Carnicero’ or ‘The Butcher’, strived hard to defend himself from the continuous battering but was unable to do so as Joel’s attack was swift, well targeted and almost invisible. Diaz threw beautiful left-right combinations and kept
Lucero away from penetrating his strong defence.
In the fifth round, Diaz flattened Emmanuel twice after which the bout-referee halted the bout as Lucero was unable to break the 10-count. On grabbing the most important win of his career, young Joel stated, “I knew Lucero was going to be a tough opponent.
My goal was to box the first few rounds and feel him out. Once I started to figure him out, I turned up the heat and got him out of there. I'm going to get right back in the gym and await my next fight from my promoter Mario Yagobi of Boxing360.”
With this emphatic win, Joel has certainly caught media’s due attention who are now portraying the 20-year-old as most probably the future owner of one of the apex divisional titles.
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