NEW YORK — New York heavyweight prospect Josh Popper is set to make his professional debut on Tuesday, October 1 when he faces Mike Diorio at the Texas Troubadour Theatre in Nashville, Tennessee.
The four-round fight will be part of the next “Country Box” event, which blends professional boxing action with country music. The event will be headlined by a super middleweight fight between Nashville-based Cuban Maidel Sando (14-0, 9 KOs) and Derrick Findley (36-30-1, 25 KOs).
The 31-year-old Popper was a standout amateur in New York City, having won the 2023 New York Ring Masters Championship and 2023 New York Boxing Tournament titles. Now trained by former professional boxer Jose Luis Guzman, Popper looks to make his mark on the pro scene.
“Making the jump to the professionals is exciting. I think I’ve always had more of a pro style. I’m not someone who wants to throw 100 punches a round. I’m gonna be able to showcase my full arsenal. I’ll be able to showcase my power, my defense and my ring generalship,” said the 6-foot-3 Popper, who has sparred many rounds with heavyweight contender Otto Wallin throughout his amateur career.
Popper’s opponent, the 35-year-old Mike Diorio of Cortland, N.Y., is a veteran of 14 pro fights and has shown durability throughout his six-year pro career, having been stopped just twice.
Prior to picking up boxing, Popper was a standout football player growing up in Atlantic City, N.J., beginning in high school, where he played defensive end on the Holy Spirit High School Spartans football team that won the New Jersey State Championship in 2011. Popper later played college football at Rowan University, earning New Jersey Athletic Conference All-Conference first team honors in his senior and sophomore years, which earned him invitations to rookie minicamps for the National Football League’s Arizona Cardinals and Indianapolis Colts.
Popper first turned to boxing as a way to cope with the death of his father. He traveled to New York City to pursue boxing, sleeping on yoga mats in the gym as he learned his craft. Now Popper owns his own gym, Bredwinners Boxing in the Flatiron District of New York City. Popper’s boxing nickname, “The Hammer”, is a tribute to his father, a former home builder whose hammer is tattooed on Popper’s back.
“I want to make some noise. I want to make a name for myself,” said Popper. “I’m fighting for a lot of people besides myself. One being my dad. I’m also fighting for my sisters, they’re both younger than me. They’re the ones that motivate me the most, I want to do the best that I possibly can for them, to show them that they have a big brother to be proud of.”
Popper is co-managed by former IBO Heavyweight Champion Sonya Lamonakis and TMA Management, a New York based corporation that also guides the careers of WBA Gold Middleweight World Champion Thomas “Cornflake” LaManna, WBA Fedecentro Lightweight champion Terell Bostic and unbeaten middleweight Jacob Solis.
“Josh is athletic, he’s strong and agile. He can take a punch and he can give a punch,” said Lamonakis.