By Jake Donovan
Former lightweight titlist Julio Diaz kept his career live with a 5th round stoppage win over super lightweight prospect Hector Sanchez in the main event at Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California.
The official time was 2:03 of round five.
Diaz (40-7, 29KO) scored a knockdown in the second round to dramatically alter the course of the fight. Sanchez attempted to box his way to victory, but quickly found himself on the defensive following the aforementioned trip to the canvas.
The bout was never close from that point onward. Diaz kept plugging away, applying pressure and keeping Sanchez at bay. The fight came to an end with Sanchez was pinned along the ropes and Diaz went on the attack, unloading until the referee stopped the contest.
Diaz improves to 40-7 (29KO) with the win, his second straight. Not so much the case for Sanchez, who has now dropped three of his last four as he falls to 19-3 (9KO).
MORE RESULTS TO COME...
In the televised co-feature, Roger "Speedy" Gonzalez dug deep to resurrect his reputation as a spoiler with a controversial majority decision over Andrew Cancio.
Scores were 95-95 even and 96-94 (twice) for Gonzalez, who was hurt on several occasions but managed to outfight the streaking Cancio for the most part.
Cancio was a red-hot prospect entering the bout, having won six straight including a win over faded Rocky Juarez this past June. The Californian had become a huge hit at the Fantasy Springs Casino, where he had won his past four bouts.
Saturday's clash changed all of that for the super featherweight prospect, who was unable to put together the type of sustained attack to convince the judges he was in control.
The crowd felt otherwise, vehemently booing the final outcome. Nevertheless, it goes in the books as a win for Gonzalez, who improves to 28-6 (18KO) as he snaps a five-fight losing streak.
Cancio loses for the first time in four years as he falls to 14-2-2 (11KO).
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com. Follow Jake on Twitter:
@JakeNDaBox
