Jo Jo Diaz picked a good time to put everything together.
Diaz, who failed in two previous attempts to win titles, outworked Tevin Farmer to capture a unanimous decision and the IBF junior lightweight championship Thursday in Miami.
The judges scored it 116-112, 115-113, 115-113. Boxing Junkie scored it 116-112 for Diaz.
“I’m very excited,” an emotional Diaz said afterward. “I’ve been dreaming about this moment for a long time.”
Diaz (31-1, 15 KOs) ran into trouble in the second round, when an accidental head butt caused a horrible cut above his left eye that seemed to portend an early end to the fight. However, his cut man managed the gash well and Diaz fought as if it never happened even though it bled into his eye in the following rounds.
“I pretended it wasn’t there,” he said.
Diaz was simply busier than Farmer, who claimed to have injured his right hand in the first round. The challenger pushed the action, threw more punches, landed more punches and connected on more eye-catching shots than Farmer. That’s a tough formula to overcome.
On top of that, Farmer didn’t seem to be himself. Known for his quickness and athleticism, he was unusually flatfooted and relatively easy to hit. The now-former champion said the hand injury prevented him from jabbing as he would’ve liked but he had no answer when asked why he looked lethargic.
Farmer (30-5-1, 6 KOs) certainly kept the fight competitive, often giving as much as he took inside, but he couldn’t do enough to slow down a Diaz determined to finally win a world title.
“He put up a hell of a fight. No excuses,” Farmer said. “I couldn’t use the jab like I wanted but he capitalized on it. That’s what a world champion does. He must’ve have seen it and he won the fight.”
The fight was likely only the first installment of a burgeoning rivalry. Farmer said afterward that he planned to exercise a rematch clause in the contract they signed.
“We’re going to do it again,” he said. “Absolutely.”