By Mark Vester
At Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, Humberto Soto (51-7-2, 32KOs) won a unanimous twelve round decision over David Diaz (35-3-1, 17KOs) to win the vacant WBC lightweight title. The scores were 115-111, 117-109 and 117-109.
There was a cut above Diaz's right eye from a clash of heads early in the first round. Not longer after a quick lefthook from Soto buckled Diaz and made his left glove touch the mat, which counted as an official knockdown and gave Soto a 10-8 round. In the second round, Soto stayed on the move and was landing counter punches on Diaz who followed him around and ate punches. Soto controlled the action in the third, landing good hooks and winging some punches as Diaz lunged in.
In the fourth round, Diaz started to find his groove. He landed some good punches in the final minute. In the fifth, Soto came back to take reclaim his control. Diaz was still landing some good punches. The sixth had Diaz moving and boxing. Soto was landing the harder punches but getting outworked. The action slowed down at the start of the eight round but Diaz began to work better and started to outwork Soto. The trend continued in the ninth round with Diaz outworking what seemed to be a tired Soto and the same trend continued in the tenth.
The eleventh had Diaz bruising and pushing a tired Soto around the ring and trapping him against the ropes to land combinations. Soto stepped up the pace in the twelfth and final round. He was landing hard shots on Diaz and worked him over with hard combinations. In the final ten seconds, a counter hook from Soto dropped Diaz for the second time in the fight. The final bell sounded when Diaz made it to his feet.
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