Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz will face Jesus Perez Thursday night at the Commerce Casino in Commerce, California, not far from his childhood home of South El Monte. The 10-round bout will headline a Golden Boy Promotions card that will stream live on DAZN (9 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. PT).

At Wednesday’s weigh-in, Diaz weighed in at 137.6 pounds. Perez came in at 138.2 pounds.

The contract weight for the fight was 139 pounds. 

Diaz (33-4-1, 15 knockouts) was scheduled to fight Richard Medina on October 21 on the undercard of the Alexis Rocha-Giovani Santillan welterweight title fight, but had to withdraw from the fight due to reportedly falling ill from COVID-like symptoms. 

In his last bout on July 8, Diaz defeated Jerry Perez by unanimous decision. In his previous fight on March 18, Diaz lost by split decision to former world title challenger Mercito Gesta. Diaz weighed in at 141.5 and 139.5 pounds, respectively, in the Perez and Gesta fights.

Joseph Diaz (left) vs Jesus Perez (right) Photo courtesy of Golden Boy Promotions

The 31-year-old has not made the lightweight limit since December 2021, when he challenged then-WBC world lightweight titleholder Devin Haney, losing by unanimous decision. 

Diaz won the IBF world junior lightweight title in January 2020, defeating Tevin Farmer over 12 one-sided rounds. 

Perez (24-5, 18 KOs), who resides in Tijuana, Mexico, lost to unbeaten welterweight prospect Brian Norman, Jr. by unanimous decision in his last bout on May 13. In his previous fight in October 2022, Perez dropped a wide decision to Rocha. 

The 26-year-old has lost four of his last six bouts.

In the co-feature, flyweight contender Ricardo Sandoval (23-2, 16 KOs) of Rialto, California will square off against Jayson Mama of the Philippines in a 10-round bout. 

Sandoval, who is rated No. 8 by The Ring at 112 pounds, defeated Victor Sandoval by unanimous decision in his last bout on October 21. The 25-year-old has won his last three bouts since a majority decision loss to fellow contender David Jimenez in July 2022.

Mama (19-1, 10 KOs) has won his last three fights since losing by unanimous decision to then-IBF world flyweight titleholder Sunny Edwards in December 2021. The 26-year-old weighed in at 112.4 pounds at Wednesday’s weigh-in. 

Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached at [email protected]

Follow @FSalazarBoxing