Nikita Tszyu became the first to defeat Oscar Diaz when the Spaniard’s corner signalled enough was enough at the end of the sixth round. The junior middleweight contest, which was for a WBO international belt, had been scheduled for 10.
Tszyu, 12-0 (10 KOs), started fast and was the aggressor in the opening session. Diaz seemed to have trouble keeping the Aussie off and, when a huge left hand was followed by another, Diaz hit the canvas in the second round.
It was all one-way traffic in the third and fourth rounds before Tszyu, 28 years old, ramped up the pressure even further in the fifth. Diaz was brave, and even landed a decent one-two on the bell, but he was being outfought in every department. Hence why Tszyu didn’t need to do what he did in the sixth.
Under sustained pressure, and visibly unsteady, Diaz – after soaking up some draining blasts to the body – took a knee to simply get out of the way. Tszyu then clocked his fallen rival while he was down, not once but twice.
Diaz’s corner made their feelings known as they angrily complained as Tszyu tried to apologize.
The contest soon restarted with more of what came before, Tszyu firing blows and Diaz failing to defend them, persuading Diaz’s team to pull their man out.
“I mean, it was just a split-second reaction,” Tszyu explained afterwards about the brief moment of controversy. “I didn’t see his knees were on the ground. I thought he was bent over and, in my experience, if they are [just] bent over, keep punching.”
Diaz, 16-1 (6 KOs), had taken plenty of legal blows prior to that to already make the result a foregone conclusion.
“He is very tough,” Tszyu remarked. “I landed some really solid shots and I am surprised he was able to take them.”
On the undercard at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre in Newcastle, Australia, Callum Peters moved to 7-0 (6 KOs) when he outpointed Joeshon James, 10-2-2 (5 KOs), over 10 super-middleweight rounds.
