Joseph Diaz Jr. beats Jesus Rojas by UD in bout no one could watch

Golden Boy Promotions debuted its Facebook Fight Night series with a featherweight fight between Jesus Rojas and Joseph Diaz Jr. It didn’t go well.

Jesus Rojas vs. Joseph Diaz Jr. was supposed to be a title fight, but Diaz forfeited a chance to earn the WBA belt by missing the featherweight limit by more than half a pound. The match proceeded without the championship on the line. Golden Boy streamed the bout for free on its new Facebook Fight Night channel. It started out great, but proved to be a monumental failure for Golden Boy Promotions and Facebook.

Rojas started Round 1 by walking Diaz down, but Diaz responded with fast combinations. Rojas connected to Diaz’s body. His punches were slow but powerful. It was a competitive round, but Rojas’s work to the body prevailed.

Rojas pinned Diaz against the ropes early in Round 2. He worked Diaz’s body, but Diaz was able to escape. Diaz exploded midway through the round, mixing in combinations to Rojas’s body and head. Rojas weathered the storm and continued to fight, but Diaz took this round.

At the start of the third, Rojas again caught Diaz on the ropes and did damage to the body. Diaz returned with a fast flurry, Rojas’s punches looked more powerful than those of Diaz. Diaz had a strong final minute of the round and outworked Rojas down the stretch. This round could have gone either way on the scorecards.

Rojas and Diaz stood head to head for the first minute of the fourth round exchanging punches. This served Rojas well as he continued to land punches to Diaz’s body. Rojas pressed forward while Diaz countered. Both men put in good work, Rojas landed the more impactful punches.

Just when things were heating up, Facebook’s fight stream dropped and didn’t return until Round 10. Facebook and Golden Boy teamed up to bring fight fans competitive bouts for free, but their first production was a complete failure.

Right in the middle of an action-packed competitive matchup, their coverage died out and left viewers infuriated. Things couldn’t have gone much worse for Golden Boy and Facebook in their first attempt at streaming a full fight card.

Golden Boy and Facebook’s stream came back towards the end of Round 10, but five and a half rounds were missed in their fight production. Viewing audiences were left imagining what happened for half the fight.

The 12th and final round was a brutal slugfest that saw Rojas get the better of the action. He pushed Diaz back and battered his body. Unfortunately, only the live fight audience could view the entirety of this bout.

The final total punch stats had Diaz out-landing Rojas 184 to 139, but Rojas looked like the fresher of the two at the closing bell. Diaz’s eyes were swollen, and he showed more battle scars than Rojas. Regardless of his appearance, Diaz won the bout by unanimous decision.

Overall, what appeared to be an exciting bout was marred by technical malfunctions. Fight fans watching at home were only able to view six and a half rounds of a 12 round fight. Golden Boy teamed up with Facebook to compete with streaming services like DAZN and ESPN+ but fell considerably short.

Diaz won the fight, but he didn’t win the WBA featherweight title. His failure to make weight cost him a chance of being crowned a world champion. Rojas and Diaz are fun to watch. It’s just a shame that no one other than a live audience was able to enjoy their performance.