Alexis Rocha vs Joseph Diaz Jr. Preview March 14th, 2026
Welterweight prospect Alexis Rocha of Santa Ana, California returns to the ring this Saturday, March 14th when he faces former IBF Junior Lightweight Champion Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz Jr of South El Monte, California in battle of southpaws. The 10-round welterweight fight from Anaheim, California can be seen live in most nations on DAZN. Rocha hasn’t fought since his 12-round draw with Raul Curiel in December, 2024. Rocha lost his NBO NABO Welterweight Title in October, 2023 when he was stopped in the sixth round of a slugfest by Giovani Santillan and then bounced back by stopping Fredrick Lawson after seven rounds and earned a 10-round unanimous decision over Santiago Dominguez for the vacant WBO NABO Welterweight Title before running into Curiel. Diaz last saw action in August when he dropped a controversial 10-round decision to former world champion Regis Prograis. In his previous outing in June, Diaz beat Jorge Luis Valencia Diaz via an eight-round unanimous decision to halt a three fight losing skid. Diaz has lost seven of his last nine fights and has won just three of his past 11.
Rocha vs Diaz Jr. Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Joseph Diaz Jr. +713
- Alexis Rocha -1500
My Pick
The 28-year-old Rocha is a southpaw who enters the ring with a record of 25-2-1 with 16 Ko’s and has 169 rounds of pro experience under his belt since making his debut in 2016. As an amateur, Rocha became the youngest boxer to win a gold medal at the 2012 Junior Olympics when he was just 14 years of age was a six-time amateur national champion.
Rocha stands 5-feet-9-inches tall with a 70-inch reach and carries pretty good power in his fists as 64 per cent of his wins have come by stoppage and he has halted six of his past 11 opponents. Rocha’s first pro defeat came at the hands of Rashidi Ellis by way of 12-round unanimous decision in October, 2020 in a shot at the vacant WBC International Welterweight Title. His second loss was a sixth-round KO at the hands of to Giovani Santillan in a slugfest in October, 2023.
He captured captured the vacant WBC Continental Americas Welterweight Crown in March, 2018 with a first-round stoppage of Miguel Perez and successfully defended it against Shoki Sakai, Berlin Abreu, Roberto Valenzuela Jr and Brad Soloman while stopping Abreu in the eighth round and Valenzuela after five. Rocha then won the vacant WBO NABO Welterweight Belt in July, 2022 with a 10-round unanimous decision over Luis Alberto Veron and defended it against Jesus Campos, George Ashie and Anthony Young and also had a ninth-round stoppage win over Blair Cobbs earlier in his career.
As for Diaz Jr., he’s now 33 years old. He lost his first world title shot when he dropped a unanimous decision to WBC Featherweight Champion Gary Russell Jr. in May, 2018. He then beat WBA Titleholder Jesus Rojas by unanimous decision three months later but came in overweight for the fight and wasn’t able to win the belt. It was third time lucky for him though when he beat Tevin Farmer for the IBF Super Featherweight Title via unanimous decision in 2020.
He lost that belt when he failed to make weight against Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov in February, 2021 and ended up fighting to a 12-round draw with him. In his following fight he won the WBC interim belt with a unanimous decision over Javier Fortuna but lost it against Devin Haney and was then beaten by William Zepeda and Mercito Gesta before rebounding with a win over Jerry Perez and a defeat to Jesus Antonio Campos. That was followed by losses to Oscar Duarte by ninth-round stoppage, and a 10-round split decision to Abraham Montoya. He then bounced back with the decision over Jose Diaz before losing to Prograis.
All of this action brings Diaz’s pro record to 34-8-1 with 15 Ko’s and he’s just 1-4 in his last five outings. As an amateur, Diaz was a member of the U.S. Olympic Boxing Team at the 2012 Games in London, England where he went 1-1 as a bantamweight. He also reached the quarterfinals of the 2011 World Amateur Championships. He turned pro in 2012 and has fought 342 rounds since. Diaz has average power at best in his fists with 44.1 per cent of his wins coming by way of stoppage. He hasn’t recorded a knockout since halting Freddy Fonseca in 2019, which was 14 fights ago.
Diaz measures 5-feet-6-inches tall with a 64-inch reach so gives up three inches in height to Rocha as well as six inches in reach. He has also captured the NABF and WBO-NABO Featherweight Titles and the WBA Gold Super Featherweight Crown as a pro and has wins over Jesus Cuadro, Victor Terrazas, Rafael Rivera, Manuel Avila, Horacio Garcia, Jayson Velez, Hugo Partida, Rene Alvarado, Roberto Castaneda and Ruben Tamayo. He’s got a solid chin as he’s been stopped just once in 43 fights.
Prediction…
Big things have been expected of Rocha and he should now be entering his prime at the age of 28, which is five years younger than Diaz. Rocha took a bit of a beating from Giovani Santillan as he was dropped three times but showed a hell of a lot of heart in that fight though and has bounced back pretty well with a couple of wins and a draw. However he took a lot of punishment from Curiel as well so he’s been in a couple of wars now. Diaz gives up quite a bit of height and reach and will be fighting at welterweight for the first time. He’s a tough son of a gun and should make this a rather entertaining fight but I believe Rocha will pull out a hard-fought victory here.
Rocha’s size and reach could be the difference.
Play: Rocha -1500 @ BetOnline.ag
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Alexis Rocha betting • Joseph Diaz Jr. betting