A crossroads clash between junior welterweight contenders is coming our way.

Oscar Duarte and Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz, Jr. will square off on April 27, Golden Boy Promotions announced Friday. The 10-round bout will take place at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California.

The fight will be included on the card featuring former world unified junior welterweight titleholder Jose Ramirez of Fresno facing Rances Barthelemy and unbeaten junior middleweight contender Vergil Ortiz squaring off against Thomas Dulorme.

All fights will stream live on DAZN (8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT).

Duarte (26-2-1, 21 knockouts), who resides in Parral, Chihuahua, last fought on December 9, losing by knockout to contender Ryan Garcia in round eight. The loss to Garcia snapped a string of 11 victories since a split-decision loss to Adrian Estrella in February 2019.

The 28-year-old has accumulated recent victories over fringe contenders Mark Bernaldez, Alex Martin, and D’Angelo Keyes.

Duarte had fought most of his career as a lightweight. He weighed in at 142.75 pounds for the Garcia fight.

Diaz (33-5-1, 15 KOs), who now resides in the Los Angeles suburb of Downey, lost by split-decision in his last fight to Jesus Perez on February 15. In his previous fight on July 8, Diaz defeated Jerry Perez by unanimous decision.

In January 2020, Diaz won the IBF world junior lightweight title, defeating Tevin Farmer by unanimous decision. Over a year later, Diaz would be stripped of the title for failing to make weight for his clash against Shatkatdzhon Rakhimov, which would end in a majority decision draw.

The 31-year-old would lose by decision to then-WBC lightweight world titleholder Devin Haney and to lightweight contender William Zepeda.

Rounding out the DAZN stream, Ring flyweight champion and unified world titleholder Marlen Esparza (14-1, 1 KO) of Houston, Texas will square off against Argentina’s Gabriela Alaniz in a 10-round rematch.

Earlier in the night, unbeaten welterweight Raul Curiel (14-0, 12 KOs) of Guadalajara, Mexico will face Jorge Marron (20-4-2, 7 KOs) of Lakeside, California in a 10-round bout.

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]

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