McCloskey to face Mexican former World Champion

By Jonny Stapleton

Former world champion Julio Diaz will officially be announced as Paul McCloskey’s next opponent later today, the Mirror Newspaper printed this morning.

‘Dudey’ has struggled to find suitable or willing opponents over the past few months. The likes of Marcos Maidana and Zab Judah refused to come to Belfast while former footballer Curtis Woodhouse was rejected after fan uproar.

However, the popular southpaw has finally found a foe that will help keep his sizeable fan base appeased, ensure he remains in world title contention and help him secure a massive fight in the summer.

Diaz (38-7) is a former IBF lightweight champion of the world. The Mexican know as the Kidd, whose brother Antonio Diaz was also a world champ, also unsuccessfully challenged for the WBO lightweight  and the WBA super lightweight championships.

The 32 year old isn’t quite as big a name as previous fighters the Dungiven stylist was linked to and comes into the bout on the back of a loss to Kendall Holt, but is a recognised name Stateside and will do McCloskey’s profile no harm.