Joseph Diaz, JR Speaks Out After Loss to Gary Russell, JR – Boxing News

JOSEPH DIAZ JR.

“The game plan was to break him down with the body shots and start attacking him more in the later rounds. But I started attacking him too late. I didn’t pick it up until the 8th or 9th round. Gary Russell Jr. is a tremendous fighter and he did a great job keeping me at bay. I needed to start in sixth round.

“He was throwing a lot of pitter patter jabs to keep me at bay. He was trying to keep me guessing and make sure I had to think about coming in. Overall it was a good learning experienced and I’ll definitely be back.

“I had a feeling he would try to stand with him and give the fans a knockout. I didn’t think he would move quite as much as he did.

“He wasn’t hurting me with any shots. He was just very fast. It was keeping me guessing. When he threw combinations, I wasn’t able to set my shots. I was a little bit hesitant.

“This will just make me a hungrier fighter. I hope I got the respect of a lot of fight fans. I wanted to become champion against the best featherweight fighter in the world. Tonight wasn’t my night but I’m going to bounce back harder and I’ll be champion soon.”