13.08.06 – Chicagoan David Diaz, moved his record to 32-1-1 (17KO’s) with a stunning 10th round stoppage of Jose Armando Santa Cruz, 23-2 (13KO’s) at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas on Saturday night. With the win, Diaz becomes the World Boxing Council’s Interim Lightweight World Champion and the mandatory challenger to Diego “Chico” Corrales..
The Diaz/Santa Cruz fight was one of the featured bouts on the undercard of the Hasim Rahman-Oleg Maskaev heavyweight championship bout at the Thomas & Mack Center broadcast live on HBO-PPV. At the time of the stoppage Diaz was behind on the scorecards by five points with two judges and three points on the third.
About the fight Diaz stated, “This was a typical fight for me. Silverio Ortiz, Cristian Favela, Jaime Rangel—seems like all my recent fights are wars with me winning in either the later rounds or by decision. This one was just like that.”
“Our game plan was to get inside early even if it meant taking shots, just to hit him in the body or the arms, wherever I could land. My body shots definitely hurt him and he was not able to extend his arms with his punches towards me in the early rounds.”
About Santa Cruz turning southpaw during the fight, David said, “I think it threw both of us off, he wasn’t able to get off with his shots and I didn’t expect him to do that so for a little while neither of us really hurt each other.”
Regarding the stoppage David said, “It was my second wind, I knew after the ninth that I might be short on the cards and that I needed to hurt him to get the win. When I dropped him the first time I knew there was plenty of time left in the round and he was badly hurt, I went right back at him and dropped him again. It was a good stoppage by the ref, otherwise he’d have been dropped a third time.”
About the damage on his face, Diaz said, “No biggie, everyone in Chicago knows this is how I always look afterwards,” laughed the happy winner.
David also wanted to make it clear about his weight on fight night, “150 was with all my clothes on, even my shoes. I’m 143 right now even after dinner last night and breakfast this morning. I make 135 easy.”
“It’s been a long road since the Olympics in 1996, but I’m glad I stuck with it. The fans in Chicago have always been very supportive and I need to thank Dominic Pesoli at 8 Count for all his help over the last four years” said Diaz as he fastened his seat belt for plane ride back home.