Humberto Soto defeats David Diaz for WBC lightweight title

ARLINGTON, Texas — 

Chicago’s David Diaz failed to recover the world lightweight title he lost to Manny Pacquiao in 2008, dropping a unanimous decision to Mexico’s Humberto Soto Saturday night at Dallas Cowboys Stadium.

Diaz was knocked down in the first and 12th rounds, and despite a predictable courageous effort, judges gave Soto the WBC lightweight belt by scores of 115-111, 117-109 and 117-109 as a massive crowd of 50,994 looked on.

“Very disappointed,” Diaz (35-3-1) said afterward. “It wasn’t supposed to be this way.”

The final round captured the essence of the clash, with Soto landing big rights, but Diaz inflicting blows inside. Soto’s power in faster exchanges revealed his ultimate edge in the competitive bout.

A final Soto flurry resulted in a second knockdown of Diaz in the fight’s final 20 seconds, even if the proud veteran protested, “No!” Diaz said he was charging forward, throwing a punch.

Diaz was knocked down in the final minute of the first round by a swift right-left combination by Soto (51-7-2). Seconds earlier, Soto took the brunt of a head butt, needing a few seconds to recover without suffering a cut.

The southpaw Diaz, however, was dealing with a small cut over his right eye, the exact area of an eyelid that was recently stitched. Still, Diaz crafted a fight plan to remain active, jabbing and looking for openings.

Soto’s big edge in punching power required the busy work, and after withstanding an attack in the third, Diaz smacked his opponent from Mexico with a good right just before the bell.

In the sixth, after a ringside physician inspected Diaz’s cut, Soto belted him with a right that caused Diaz’s mouthpiece to fall onto the canvas.

Diaz dove forward to land a clean right in the seventh, then tried to bully Soto toward the ropes but was warned for excessive elbows in the ninth.

Still, the aggression paid dividends, and Diaz landed an impressive left and kept pressure on Soto until the bell. In the 10th, the Diaz charge caused Soto’s head to end up behind the ring’s top rope. Diaz was so pleased with his 10th he pumped his right glove in happiness.

Earlier, former two-time world lightweight champion Jose Luis Castillo, 36, showed the toll of his 70 pro fights, getting beat to the punch repeatedly by former “The Contender” fighter Alfonso Gomez (22-4-2) in the welterweight bout.

Castillo (60-10-1) called it quits after the fifth round, ending his career on the historic stage.

“I want to retire, because I don’t have it anymore,” Castillo said afterward.

“Irish” John Duddy and Mexico’s Michael Medina engaged in an entertaining split-decision slugfest, punctuated by a brutal back-and-forth before the final bell.

Duddy (29-1) won by scores of 96-93 twice, with judge Arturo Velasquez giving Medina (22-2-2) a 96-93 edge. CompuBox showed Duddy landed only four more punches.

It opened as Medina belted Duddy with an impressive combination before accepting a straight right later in the gritty third round.

It was a test of chins and right-handed power, and Duddy most routinely shrugged off Medina’s scoring blows, then forced him back with punishment like a sixth-round combination and stiff left.

At the end of the seventh, Medina rocked Duddy with an onslaught that was made worse when the mildly dazed Irishman’s corner didn’t immediately stick out his stool to rest after the bell. Duddy was refreshed enough by the ninth to pound Medina with a hurtful right, then four slapping lefts to the face.

Santa Ana super-welterweight Rodrigo Garcia (6-0, five KOs) dominated veteran opponent Calvin Pitts, knocking him down four times in the second round before the bout was stopped with 39 seconds remaining. Garcia, 21, is a standout in the camp of Orange County boxing/MMA trainer Juanito Ibarra.

Mexico’s featherweight Salvador Sanchez (19-3-2) scored a technical knockout of Texas’ Jaime Villa at the 1:09 mark of the sixth round. The nephew of the legendary Mexican champion had knocked down Villa in the fifth, then downed him for good with an inside barrage.

Dallas’ own amateur star Roberto Marroquin (13-0, 10 KOs) pleased the home crowd by knocking out super-bantamweight foe Samuel Sanchez in the second round with a vicious right that caught a reeling Sanchez flush on the side of the head.