Diaz Doesn’t See Loss Coming

It is tough enough to face two-time World Boxing Council lightweight champion Jose Luis Castillo when you can clearly see his incoming punches.

Imagine trying to fight him with one eye. And a damaged eye at that.

That was the daunting task facing Julio Diaz in the latter rounds of the main event Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

With his left eye reduced to a thin slit because of a cut in the corner and heavy swelling underneath, and his right eye slowly losing vision as well because of a cut on the right eyelid, Diaz was reduced to absorbing blows from fists he couldn’t see and flailing away at an opponent he couldn’t always locate.

Finally, already down once in the 10th round from a Castillo right-handed punch, Diaz went down again from a left-right combination in front of the crowd of 4,765.

As he administered the count to Diaz, who had raised himself on one knee, referee Richard Steele looked in Diaz’s battered face and finally, mercifully ended the count prematurely at eight.

Castillo was officially declared the winner at the 2:23 mark of that round, increasing the Mexicali fighter’s record to 52-6-1 with 46 knockouts and setting up a match against World Boxing Organization lightweight champ Diego Corrales.

That bout is tentatively set for May 7, but, according to promoter Bob Arum, the contracts have not been signed.

“I started losing my vision from the fourth round on,” said Diaz (30-3, 22). “The swelling came from a head butt, not a punch. I couldn’t see the punches.”

Steele briefly stopped the fight in that fourth round, inspected Diaz’s left eye and ruled that the clash of heads had been accidental. The injury to the Coachella fighter’s right eye came in the seventh round.

“I just did what I had to do to,” Castillo said, “put on pressure and throw a lot of punches. I took some unnecessary punches for a reason.

“I was trying to lure him in toward me. I didn’t really feel his punches.”

Said Diaz, “I am very disappointed.”

Understandably so. A 2 1/2 -1 underdog coming in, he was in a close fight, trailing by only one point on all three judges’ scorecards heading into the round in which he was head butted.

Diaz had waited a long time for this fight while negotiations between Castillo and Corrales collapsed not once but twice.

And when the window of opportunity was there to battle Castillo, Diaz, who had not fought in 10 months, was so anxious to participate in the match that he relinquished his International Boxing Federation lightweight title.

“Castillo is a big, strong lightweight and I give him credit,” said Diaz. “I am still young and learning.”

What he learned Saturday night is that, at the very least, it takes two good eyes to battle Castillo.

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The oddsmakers figured the semi-main event -- IBF super middleweight champion Jeff Lacy against Rubin Williams -- was so one-sided in Lacy’s favor, they didn’t even post odds.

Sure enough, Lacy (19-0, 15) was dominating, pounding away at Williams until referee Tony Weeks stopped the bout 47 seconds into the seventh round.

But in defeat, Williams (26-2, 15) gained the respect he’d been seeking. He weathered one Lacy onslaught after another, staying on his feet in the face of a string of head-rattling right-hand blows from the opening bell on.

And just when it appeared Williams was finished, he would find the strength and the coordination to throw enough counterpunches to convince Weeks the bout should continue.

“I give him a lot of credit,” Lacy said. “He was determined. He was a bad boy, I have to admit he has a great chin. I can dish it out, but I can also take it.”

After Williams sustained a series of unanswered blows early in the seventh round, Weeks decided Williams had had enough.