By Ricardo Lezama 
The fighting pride of El Monte, California, Joseph “Jo Jo” Diaz lost against the much bigger, Oscar Duarte, yesterday at the Save Mart Stadium in Fresno, California. However, this time he lost by a technical stoppages that was prompted after a series of powerful blows delivered from Duarte. Diaz claimed that much of it was blocked, and he wanted to continue, but his corner considered it most prudent to throw in the towel.
Early Phase Of The Fight
In teh first few rounds, Jojo Diaz would box nicely and befuddle Duarte a bit. Diaz would parry and pull back just in time. He also looked to be in fantastic shape. As the rounds wore on, he would land great body shots, straight lefts and in perfect form, showing his olympic pedigree.
Change in Tide
Oscar Duarte earned the 9th round stoppage by surging around the 6th round to pummel Diaz repeatedly as the latter attempted to block, but would pull straight back too much. Diaz would also hang out on the ropes which is actually what led to the stoppage.
After a valiant outing against Oscar Duarte, some of the commentators were speculating that Diaz may simply retire after so much negligence in his career. The career peak may have been his victory against Tevin Farmer, a world class superfeather weight known for his defensive prowess.
Nevertheless, Diaz remained adamant that he would return eventually.