PREFIGHT
Erik "El Terrible" Morales enters first to a chorus of cheers from the crowd. He appears to be in good shape. The champion, David Diaz, enters next to some slight boos. Definitely can't be a good feeling getting booed in your own hometown. "LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLEEEEEEEE!"
ROUND 1
Morales starts off being cautious. Diaz stalking and lands a right hook to the body. Morales circling and not doing much. Morales fires the jab, but misses. Now he lands a left hook upstairs. Diaz lands a left upstairs. Now Diaz is working the body and lands a good right hook. Diaz lands a right upstairs. Morales continues to retreat. 1-2 lands for Morales. Diaz works the body along the ropes. Morales lands a left. Another left lands for Morales, but WOOOOOOO, Diaz lands a sweeping right hand that backs him up. WOOOOOOOOOO...now Diaz rocks Morales with a left hand. OOOOOOH, but Morales answers back and drops Diaz with a counter right hand. He's up and takes the count. Morales lands a right hand to end the round. Wow. Diaz was winning the round, but got dropped by Morales right at the end. Round to Morales for the knockdown, but Diaz clearly deserves a 10-9 round.
Morales 10 Diaz 9
ROUND 2
Diaz comes out fast and continues to work the body. Morales on the retreat. Diaz lands a right hand upstairs. Woooo...short left hook connects for Diaz and Morales slips and falls to the ground. The ref correctly rules it a slip. HARD uppercut lands for Diaz. Morales continues to retreat. Quick three punch combo lands for Morales. Diaz rushes in and lands a great right hook to the body. Diaz roughs Morales up along the ropes. Morales lands a short chopping right hook upstairs. Morales lands a left to the body. Round to Diaz.
Morales 19 Diaz 19
ROUND 3
Diaz lands a left to start the round. Morales retreats behind the jab and lands an uppercut. Diaz lands a right. Diaz rushes in and works the body. Another nice uppercut lands for Morales. Diaz lands a right hook to the body. Left hook and an uppercut lands for Morales. Diaz lands a left. Nice uppercut lands for Morales that backs Diaz up. 1-2 lands for Morales. Diaz rushes in and lands a left. Morales lands a counter right hand. Good round for Morales.
Morales 29 Diaz 28
ROUND 4
Morales lands a left hand and backs away. Right hand down the pipe lands for Morales. Diaz not doing a vey good job of cutting off the ring. Right hand lands for Morales. Another right hand lands for Morales. Hard right hand to the body from Morales backs Diaz up. Diaz lands a chopping right hand, but pays for it with a counter right from Morales. WOOOOO...HARD right hand from Morales stops Diaz in his tracks. Morales letting his hands go more now and lands a left downstairs and a right up top. Round to Morales.
Morales 39 Diaz 37
ROUND 5
Diaz lands a left to the body. Morales continues to work the jab while he retreats. Uppercut lands for Morales. Diaz lands a right upstairs. Morales continues to circle and show Diaz angles. Morales lands a 1-2. Diaz lands an upperuct. Diaz smothering his punches a bit. Morales peppers the jab in his face. Right hand lands for Morales. Straight right to the body lands for Morales. Diaz lands a right upstairs. Nice four punch combo lands for Morales as the right eye of Diaz begins to swell. They clinch and Morales lands some chopping punches on the inside. Diaz lands a left to end the round. Round to Morales.
Morales 49 Diaz 46
ROUND 6
Some roughhousing to start the round. Diaz lands a left. Morales lands a right down the pipe. Diaz lands a couple of jabs. Right hand lands for Diaz and he roughs Morales up along the ropes. Morales lets his hands go and lands some slashing lefts and rights. Diaz lands some uppercuts and some elbows on the inside. Morales retaliates with a right to the back of the head. Morales continues to work the jab. Left hook lands for Morales. Diaz lands a nice left of his own. The eye of Diaz is looking grotesque. Morales lands a 1-2. A little better round for Diaz, but not enough to win it. Round to Morales.
Morales 59 Diaz 55
ROUND 7
Diaz lands a sweeping right hook. Morales circles, retreats and fires the jab. Diaz lands a right hand, but then rushes in and smothers his punches. Morales lands a right to the body. Diaz lands a right. Morales lands a right of his own. Nice right hook lands for Diaz. Morales lands a nice counter of his own. Diaz lands a left. Morales lands a right down the pipe. 1-2 lands for Morales. Two jabs land for Morales. Diaz lands a left and misses with a right. Morales lands a right hook on the inside. Diaz lands a right of his own. Diaz works Morales along the ropes and lands some good uppercuts. Better round for Diaz.
Morales 68 Diaz 65
ROUND 8
Morales lands a right and a left upstairs. Diaz rushes in and trys to bully Morales along the ropes. Morales spins him and keeps his distance with the jab. Diaz works the body and backs him up to the ropes again. Morales lands a nice uppercut on the inside. Morales looking a bit tired. Left hand lands for Morales. Diaz lands a left hook and works Morales along the ropes. Morales fires back and lands a nice five punch combo. Diaz pushes him back and works him along the ropes with some nice uppercuts. Hard right hand to the body lands for Diaz. Another right hook to the body lands for Diaz as Morales looks tired. Round to Diaz.
Morales 77 Diaz 75
ROUND 9
Diaz lands a left upstairs and a right to the body. Morales lands a right down the pipe. Another right down the pipe lands for Morales. CRUSHING right hook to the body lands for Morales. Diaz lands a left. Left hand to the body and a hard right uppercut lands for Morales. Left hook for MOrales lands. Diaz lands a right hook of his own. Short right hand lands upstairs for Morales. Diaz lands two lefts upstairs that back Morales up. Diaz works the body along the ropes. Counter right and a left hand lands upstairs for Morales. Round to Morales.
Morales 87 Diaz 84
ROUND 10
Diaz misses with a right hook to start the round. Morales lands a quick three punch combo. Diaz lands a HUGE left hand upstairs along the ropes. Morales ties him up. Nice four punch combo lands for Morales. Diaz works the body along the ropes. Diaz lands a left hook. Morales lands two right hands upstairs. Morales lands a nice 1-2. Diaz lands a right hook. Right hook to the body lands for Morales. Round to Morales.
Morales 97 Diaz 93
ROUND 11
Morales works his jab and Diaz works his way in on the inside. Both men trading and working the body. Morales getting the better work done. Nice right hook to the body lands for Diaz. Morales lands a nice left hook to the body of his own. Diaz lands a right upstairs. Morales lands a right upstairs and a 1-2 downstairs. WOOOOO...nice right hand upstairs lands for Morales. Left hook to the body lands for Morales. Nice uppercut lands for Morales. Diaz tries to work the body, but he looks tired. Diaz misses with a wild right hook. Morales lands a 1-2. Diaz lands a nice combo at the end of the round, but not enough to steal it. Round to Morales.
Morales 107 Diaz 102
ROUND 12
Morales's corner thinks they have the fight won as they advice Morales to stay away from Diaz in the last round. Morales works the jab, but Diaz bulls his way in and works the body. Morales obliges and they trade uppercuts. Diaz works the body with a nice 1-2. Nice right hook and an uppercut lands for Morales. Diaz tries to work him along the ropes. WOOOOOO...nice right hand lands for Diaz. Diaz lands a left upstairs, but Morales answers back with a nice counter right. Both men standing and trading. Diaz misses with a wild left hook and Morales ties him up. Diaz works the body. Diaz lands a nice 1-2 upstairs. Morales holds on. Diaz lands an uppercut and Morales staggers backwards and lays against the ropes to end the round. Round to Diaz.
Morales 116 Diaz 112
Official judges scorecards: 114-113, 115-112, 115-113
The winner by unanimous decision....
AND STILL WBC LIGHTWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD....
DAVID DIAZ
POSTFIGHT
Wow. A few of those rounds were close so I guess it's not out of the question for Diaz to get the victory, but I thought Morales did a much better job of countering than Diaz did of charging in and trying to work the body. Good little scrap though...not exactly sure if that's the way I'd want to go out though. Morales thanks the fans that showed up and says that he thinks this was his last fight. He says it was a tough fight and he gave everything that he could. Some slight boos from the crowd as Diaz addresses them in spanish. He says that he's glad he got an opportunity to bring a title fight to Chicago and he's looking forward to unifying the lightweight division.
Compubox
David Diaz total punches: 161/733
Erik Moral total punches: 169/584
David Diaz total jabs: 15/103
Erik Morales total jabs: 54/258
David Diaz power punches: 146/620
Erik Morales power punches: 105/326
[ Follow Ben Thompson on Twitter @fighthype ]