Diaz vs Sotto on Pacquiao vs Clottey fight

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Once KO'd by Manny Pacquiao, Diaz Battles Soto For WBC Crown

ARLINGTON, Texas -- On the evening of May 5, 2009, Manny Pacquiao was sitting in the dressing room following his ferocious, second-round knockout of England's Ricky Hatton at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas.

Suddenly, Pacquiao's cell phone rang.

The call was from David Diaz (pictured above, at right, with Humberto Soto), the man whom Pacquiao had dethroned with a ninth-round in June 2008 to earn the WBC lightweight (135 pounds) title.

Diaz was phoning to thank Pacquiao for the new highlight-reel stoppage of Hatton -- the one he figured would be used in future bouts promoting the Filipino superstar.

In between the stoppages of Diaz and Hatton, Pacquiao had similarly made Oscar De La Hoya remain on his stool between the eighth and ninth rounds.

But De La Hoya quit. He wasn't devastatingly dismantled and dropped like Diaz or Hatton.

And the way Hatton went out, Diaz was confident that Pacquiao's sensational blowout of the Englishman would supplant his own demise at Pacquiao's hands as the replay of record for future HBO highlights.

Diaz was correct.

"I sure did call him, and I told him to stop using my highlight and to start using Ricky Hatton's," said the 33-year-old Diaz, a southpaw who resides in Chicago.

"But this is what we do. We're supposed to sometimes lose and sometimes win," Diaz said. "And sometimes, unfortunately, that means getting knocked out. It just happens. It's my job."

On Saturday night on HBO pay-per-view from Cowboys Stadium, Diaz (35-2-1, 17 knockouts) will get a chance to regain the crown that he lost when he engages in a clash of former world champions with 29-year-old Humberto Soto (50-7-2, 32 KOs) of Tijuana, Mex., for the WBC lightweight belt vacated by Edwin Valero.

"I never thought that I would be a world champion. Now, to be able to be called two-time world champion? That lights a fire under my a** real quick," said Diaz, whose matchup with Soto takes place on the undercard of Pacquiao's defense of his WBO welterweight (147 pounds) title against Joshua Clottey (35-3, 20 KOs). "That makes me want to go out there and do what I've got to do against the guy who is across the ring from me."

Diaz said that he considers Soto a personal friend, having seen him around at boxing events and during the many times when they have fought on the same cards.

"We have a good camaraderie with each other. A lot of people don't understand the concept that we can go in there and beat each others brains in, and then later on be sharing a Coke or a beer," Diaz said.

"You have to live this life to really grasp it and understand it, and I think that boxers are really good people when you come down to it," Diaz said. "We just work hard and try to have that competitiveness that we want to be good. You just want people to talk about you and say, 'Hey, you had a pretty good fight.'"

Soto has won six consecutive bouts, four of them by knockout, since being disqualified in the fourth round by referee Joe Cortez against Francisco Lorenzo on the Pacquiao-Diaz undercard.

Soto was winning the fight with Lorenzo, but was ruled to have hit him while he was down, resulting in the loss. Soto is coming off of December's 10-round unanimous decision victory over Jesus Chavez.

Now, Soto and Diaz are after the crown left behind by the 28-year-old Valero (27-0, 27 KOs).

Coming off of a Feb. 6, 10th-round knockout of Antonio DeMarco (23-2-1, 17 KOs) of Mexico, Valero is moving up to the junior welterweight (140 pounds) division to take on 26-year-old, Lamont Peterson (27-1, 13 KOs) on a date to be determined -- potentially on April 10 in Las Vegas or in July, according to Top Rank Promotions' CEO Bob Arum and Top Rank matchmaker Carl Moretti.

The first of Saturday night's televised bouts from Cowboys Stadium is a 10-round middleweight (160 pounds) clash between 30-year-old Ireland native John Duddy (28-1, 18 KOs) of New York, and 23-year-old Michael Medina (22-1-2, 17 KOs) of Monterrey, Mex.

Duddy is coming off of his second straight victory since losing last April's 10-round split-decision to Billy Lyell, having stopped Juan Atorga in the first round of his last fight in January.

Medina is coming off of his fourth knockout in his past five fights -- all triumphs -- having knocked out Robert Valenzuela in the first round in February. Medina's last loss was to Vanes Martirosyan in September 2008.

The second featured bout on Saturday night is between 36-year-old former world champion Jose Luis Castillo (60-9-1, 52 KOs) of Sonora, Mex., and 29-year-old Alfonso Gomez (21-4, 10 KOs) of Guadalajara, Mex.

"This is a very big one for me, because this will open the door to get into bigger fights. I'm going to go in there and do my job," Castillo said. "I don't know if I'm going to steal the show or not, but I'm going to go out there and do my job -- definitely."

source fanhouse.com

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