Orozco, “Jojo” Diaz quick quotes

Photos: Golden Boy Promotions

The heat was turned up a notch at Golden Boy Headquarters as undefeated welterweight “Relentless” Antonio Orozco (24-0, 16 KOs) and undefeated NABF Featherweight Champion Joseph “Jojo” Diaz, Jr. (20-0, 11 KOs) announced their upcoming televised fights on HBO Latino on July 30. Rising SoCal fan-favorite fighter, Nick “La Calavera” Arce (8-0-0, 6 KOs) fighting on the non-televised undercard portion of the night was also in attendance.

Below is what the fighters, their managers and promoter had to say at today’s press conference:

Antonio Orozco; “I want to thank God for providing these opportunities. It’s a blessing to have the team I have around me. These are the moments that as a professional you look forward to. We’ve paid our dues and put in the hard work. This wouldn’t be possible without a team–even though as a fighter, you are alone in the ring, you don’t get ready without a team.

“My opponent is a tremendous fighter from what I’ve seen, who can pull off an upset and has won against undefeated fighters before. We are putting together our relentless style of boxing and July 30 will be no exception. No one will be bored watching this fight.”

“Jojo” Diaz; “Thank you to Golden Boy Promotions and HBO for this opportunity to showcase my talents.

“I’m excited to give everyone a great performance. I’ve been training very hard, and I want to showcase that I am at the same level as all the champions in the featherweight division. Hopefully, I can go for a world title soon.”

Nick Arce; “I want to thank my team at Westside Boxing and Golden Boy Promotions for supporting me. I’m excited to be in the ring on July 30 and will give the fans a great show.”

Eric Gomez, Golden Boy VP; “We are very proud to be partnered with Fantasy Springs for this fight, as they have been our host venues for many of Golden Boy’s events.

“Antonio Orozco reminds me of a young Julio Cesar Chavez, because he always puts on an exciting performance. He’s worked very hard to be here and this might be the fight before his shot at a world title. It’s clear he has obviously caught the eye of HBO, and this fight will be by far the toughest of his career.

“We are in an Olympic year, and our co-headliner will be ex-Olympian, Joseph Diaz, Jr. who also has a great record as a featherweight fighter.I believe the featherweight division will be the hottest division in the next few years because of all the talent we have following in the footsteps of Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera.

“Nick Arce is beginning to have a huge following and his fans follow him out to Fantasy Springs. He sells a bunch of tickets, and will be the future of boxing.”

Frank Espinoza, Orozco’s Manager; “Muhammad Ali once said, ‘Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them – a desire, a dream, and a vision.’

“On July 30, we will witness such a fighter who has a desire, a dream, and a vision. I’d like to say Antonio Orozco has the X factor, and it’s no wonder he’s ranked number one by the WBC. He’s unstoppable and we’re happy to be a part of this event. We will put on a fight we won’t forget.”

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