Fringe junior welterweight contender Carlos Diaz battered Eleazar Valenzuela before ending matters in Round 6, on Saturday night at the Grand Hotel in Tijuana, Mexico.

With the victory, Diaz improves to 29-1, with 14 knockouts.

Diaz, who resides in Guadalajara, Mexico, had not fought since defeating journeyman Emmanuel Herrera by unanimous decision in May 2019. Diaz has now won his last three fights since suffering his only loss as a pro at the hands of contender Jose Zepeda, in June 2018.

From the opening bell on Saturday night, Diaz put Valenzuela on the defensive. Valenzuela did find some success as he stood in the pocket but Diaz landed the more effective punches throughout the fight.

Diaz found a rhythm as the fight progressed, varying his offense by throwing and landing combinations and lead right hands to the head of Valenzuela. Sensing Valenzuela was weakening, Diaz increased his punch output and aggression in hopes of scoring a knockout victory in Round 5. Diaz continued the onslaught early in the sixth, prompting Valenzuela’s corner to throw in the towel at 51 seconds.

Valenzuela, who resides in Guasave, Mexico, drops to 22-14-4, with 16 KOs.

In the co-feature, featherweight prospect Carlos Lopez remained unbeaten by stopping Marcos Muniz, of Tijuana, at 2:02 of the second round.

Lopez, who resides in Bahia de Banderas, Nayarit, Mexico, improves to 14-0-2, with 5 KOs.

Muniz (14-2, 11 KOs) was the aggressor early on, even momentarily hurting Lopez in Round 1. Rather than stand in the pocket, Lopez began fighting from distance early in Round 2, connecting with combinations. Later in the round, a left hook to the body followed by a right to the head hurt Muniz. Lopez followed up with a four-punch combination, dropping Muniz to the canvas. Referee Fernando Renteria initially began administering an eight-count but decided to wave the fight off off at 2:02.

Bantamweight Paulette Valenzuela, of Tijuana, defeated Mexico City’s Margarita Angeles (3-7-2, 1 KO) by unanimous decision. All three judges scored the bout 80-72 in favor of Valenzuela, who improves to 10-1, 4 KOs.

The card was promoted by Zanfer Promotions.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October of 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @FSalazarBoxing.

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