{"id":780088,"date":"2026-09-23T15:24:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T15:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/780088\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T15:24:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T15:24:21","slug":"former-devin-haney-rival-lands-next-bare-knuckle-fight-after-first-round-ko-in-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/780088\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Devin Haney rival lands next bare knuckle fight after first-round KO in debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former world champion who shared the ring with Devin Haney is taking his gloveless career on the road.<\/p>\n

Joseph \u2018JoJo\u2019 Diaz Jr. has officially confirmed his next bout, signing to feature at BKB 60 on Saturday, October 10.<\/p>\n

The contest marks a major travel milestone for the 2012 US Olympian. Despite a 45-fight professional boxing career<\/a> that featured clashes with elite operators like Gary Russell Jr. and Regis Prograis \u2013 as well as an IBF super-featherweight world title victory over Tevin Farmer \u2013 Diaz has never competed on UK soil.<\/p>\n

The 33-year-old southpaw \u2013 who lost to Haney<\/a> in 2021 \u2013 transitioned to bare-knuckle boxing earlier this year, making an immediate impact with a blistering first-round knockout over Nate Williams at BKB 56 in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

Now, he heads across the Atlantic to face Brian Hyslop in a super-lightweight contest at Newcastle\u2019s Utilita Arena.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve fought all over the States and in Mexico, but I\u2019ve never stepped into a ring in the UK, not once in my whole career. Newcastle is going to be the first, and I\u2019m doing it bare knuckle. This is a new chapter for me and I want the fans here to see exactly what a world champion looks like up close.\u201d<\/p>\n

BKB Bare Knuckle Boxing CEO David Tetreault added:<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting a genuine former world champion like JoJo Diaz to make his first-ever UK appearance at our first-ever Newcastle show says everything about where this sport is heading. This is a huge moment for Newcastle and a huge statement for BKB.\u201d<\/p>\n

The October 10 bill is headlined by a BKB super-welterweight world championship showdown between Filipino titleholder Rolando Dy and five-time champion Scott McHugh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former world champion who shared the ring with Devin Haney is taking his gloveless career on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":780089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-780088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=780088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/780089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=780088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=780088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=780088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}