By Jake Donovan
Former title challenger Antonio Diaz enjoyed a successful return to the ring following a 20-month hiatus, dominating journeyman Ernesto “Baby” Zepeda en route to a 9th round stoppage on Friday evening at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California.
The bout - Diaz’ first since suffering a 7th round stoppage against Victor Ortiz in December 2009 – served as the headliner on Telefutura’s Solo Boxeo Tecate series.
Diaz controlled the action from the opening bell, often forcing the fight to the ropes and keeping Zepeda on the defensive all night. The 16-year pro (on-and-off) maintained a busy workrate, mixing it up between power shots upstairs and punishing body shots to ensure that his opponent never traveled very far.
Zepeda wasn’t without his moments, landing flush left hooks in the middle rounds but never truly disrupting the rhythm of Diaz, who hardly resembled a 35-year old in the midst of his third career.
The end came in the eighth, though Diaz was forced to take matters into his own hands thanks to the level of inept officiating that has become commonplace amongst the long beleaguered California State Athletic Commission. A pair of knockdowns forced Zepeda to a knee, though for whatever reason was waved off by the referee, who insisted that a push took place.
Diaz went on the attack, while Zepeda all but refused to put up a fight in return. The veteran clubfighter was saved by the bell, but was unable to come out for the ninth round, prompting an immediate stoppage.
The official time was 0:01 of the ninth round.
The win is Diaz’ first since March 2009, as he improves his record to 47-6-1 (30KO).
Zepeda – whose last fight was exactly 52 weeks ago – suffers his fourth straight loss, including back-to-back-to-back knockout losses (though each spread out a year apart) as he falls to 39-15-4 (34KO).
Diaz unofficially retired in 2005 after having twice failed to prevail at the championship level, but decided some three years later to give it another try. His return to the ring was aired live on Telemundo, taking a well-earned 12-round decision over fellow former title challenger Felix Flores.
A seven-fight win streak – including four in a row during his return to the ring - was enough to sell the HBO brass on the prospect of his being a formidable enough challenge for a comebacking Victor Ortiz, who quit in the middle of his shootout with Marcos Maidana earlier in the year. The reality was that Diaz was served up as cannon fodder, and given the opportunity as a cashout bout. Dropped early, battered and bloody, the veteran was stopped after six rounds of one-sided action.
Where his latest comeback will take him is anybody’ guess, though he appears to be in better shape than he was in his previous attempt at one more run towards a championship.
In other televised action:
Lights out lightweight prospect Andrew “Chango” Cancio looked sensational in scoring a fourth-round knockout of Lowell Brownfield in the televised co-feature.
The bout began competitive but quickly became a rout once the power-punching Cancio was able to allow his presence to be felt. The knockout artist scored knockdown in rounds two, three and four, the last of which prompted referee Tony Krebs to wisely step in and stop the action.
The official time was 1:49 of the fourth round.
Cancio is now 11-1-2 (11KO). He has yet to win a bout that has went to the cards, as he is 0-1-2 under such circumstances, including a four-round draw in his pro debut. None of his wins have lasted longer than five rounds.
Brownfield is now winless in his last five contests (0-4-1) as he falls to 11-8-1 (4KO). He has now suffered three knockout losses in the span of 50 weeks, which hopefully sets off an alarm and causes commissions to think twice before reinstating his license.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com. Follow Jake on Twitter at twitter.com/JakeNDaBox or submit questions/comments to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.