This will be Díaz's first time climbing between the ropes since his shock upset at the hands of Francisco "Chia" Santana in the José Sulaimán Invitational welterweight tourney 11 months earlier - and only his second match since he was stopped by Terence Crawford in May 2017. He is taking on a glass cannon southpaw countryman in the capital of their native Dominican Republic - which is also Díaz's hometown, Santo Domingo. Peralta has a lot of early knockouts to his credit - but he also has lost six times by stoppage (quitting on his stool thrice) including to his biggest name opponent fought to date: namely the Lucas Matthysse victim Tewa Kiram, the freakishly tall Siamese welterweight. He was retired twice in a row in 2017, but returned last April to shut out the sub-.500 Luis Yovanni Hernández Rosa over eight rounds. That was two weeks before Santana vs. Díaz, meaning the Olympic gold medalist despite the ring-rust is technically still the fresher man here. Barring a precipitous overnight decline in abilities or a defeatist mentality as the result of the Santana loss, this should be an easy W for Díaz, with anything less than a kayo being a disappointment. It will be interesting to see him build himself up again, provided he still looks the goods here.
