Diaz defeats Malignaggi by unanimous decision

By Chris Duncan, AP Sports Writer

Sunday, Aug. 23, 2009 | 1:30 a.m.

HOUSTON — Juan Diaz thinks he proved that he’s a top contender again. Paulie Malignaggi thinks three judges in Texas prevented him from becoming one.

Diaz beat Malignaggi in a 12-round, unanimous decision on Saturday night to win the vacant NABO junior welterweight championship.

Diaz, a Houston native, fought the last 10 rounds with a bloody cut over his left eye. But the hometown crowd at the Toyota Center cheered every punch Diaz landed, and Malignaggi thought that swayed the judges.

Diaz (35-2) ran to the four corners of the ring and saluted the cheering fans after the decision was announced, giving him a bounce-back win after he was knocked out by Juan Manuel Marquez at the Toyota Center in February.

“I can fight at 135 pounds, I can fight at 140,” said Diaz. “I think I’m ready to take on anybody now. Whoever wants to fight me, bring it on.”

Marquez will fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Sept. 19 and Diaz hopes his victory on Saturday night puts him in line to face the winner of that one. He said he’d also welcome a rematch with Malignaggi.

Golden Boy promoter Oscar De La Hoya said Ricky Hatton is another possible opponent for Diaz.

“We like going to the fighter and saying, ‘These are opportunities, but who would you like to fight?”’ De La Hoya said. “We’ll discuss it when the time is right.”

Malignaggi (27-2) said before the fight that he was worried about the judges, especially Gale Van Hoy and Raul Caiz. He pointed out that those two were judges when Houston native Rocky Juarez earned a draw with featherweight champion Chris John at the Toyota Center in February, a decision that Malignaggi thought was unfair.

Van Hoy had the 118-110 scorecard for Saturday’s main even and Malignaggi blasted the judge again. Caiz scored it 115-113 and the third judge, David Sutherland, had the 116-112 score.

“You don’t see too many good decisions in Texas, with out-of-towners against Texas fighters,” Malignaggi said. “I put my two cents in before. I said, ‘I don’t want Gale Van Hoy and I don’t want Raul Caiz.’ Raul had it pretty close. I thought I won the fight, but at least he had it close.

“But there is no way anyone won that fight 118-110,” Malignaggi said. “Gale Van Hoy just filled out his scorecard, on purpose, to (rob) Paulie Malignaggi. I don’t know how Gale Van Hoy keeps getting jobs.”

De La Hoya also questioned Van Hoy’s scorecard, but not the outcome of the fight.

“I’ve been in close fights, just like every other fighter has been in close fights,” De La Hoya said. “Sometimes you’re on the short end. That’s the way boxing is.”

Malignaggi landed 191 punches to Diaz’s 178, according to the official statistics. Malignaggi threw 949 punches to Diaz’s 663 and Malignaggi controlled the hard-charging Diaz with sharp left jabs and quick combinations.

Diaz hit Malignaggi with a hard right in the last minute of the second round, but by the time the bell sounded, Diaz had blood trickling down his face.

Diaz was also cut over his right eye in the eighth round of the Marquez fight, and Marquez knocked him out in the ninth. Diaz fought through it this time, landing several hard shots in the later rounds.

“I lost two of my fights because of cuts,” Diaz said. “This time, I let my corner work on it, I stayed calm, relaxed and everything worked out.”

Malignaggi, dressed in flourescent purple trunks with black and white tassles, kept attacking Diaz’s eye and the cut started bleeding again in the 10th round.

The hometown crowd chanted “Diaz! Diaz!” in every round, but Malignaggi seemed to have more energy at the end. The two exchanged hard lefts in the final minute and embraced in the middle of the ring when the bell sounded.

Earlier Saturday night, Robert Guerrero stopped Malcolm Klassen in a 12-round, unanimous decision to take Klassen’s IBF junior lightweight belt.

Klassen started landing hard right hands in the fifth round and opened a cut over Guerrero’s left eye by the seventh. Guerrero also said he broke his left hand during the fight, but he used his significant height and reach advantage to keep Klassen at bay.

Also, Danny Jacobs earned the vacant NABO middleweight belt with a 10-round decision over Ishe Smith.