Soto wins title (12:31 p.m.)

HUMBERTO Soto bagged the WBC lightweight championship via 12-round unanimous decision over David Diaz.

WBC Intercontinental Americas welterweight champion Alfonso Gomez retired fellow Mexican Jose Luis Castillo, who remained seated on his stool at the start of the sixth round.

The former “Contender” star Gomez improved his record to 22-4-2, while the two-time WBC lightweight champion, who is likely to retire for good, dropped to 60-10-1.

Irishman John Duddy (29-1, 18 KOs) won by split decision over middleweight Michael Medina (22-2-2, 17 KOs) after 10 rounds of boxing. Scores were 96-93, 96-93 for Duddy, who is now in line for a showdown with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., and 96-93 for Medina.

Isaac Hidalgo of Tucson, Arizona and local boy Arthur Trevino fought to a four-round draw in their entertaining featherweight fight. Hidalgo’s record now stands at 6-5-2, while Trevino slipped to 5-3-3.

Rodrigo Garcia of Sta. Ana, California posted a second-round technical-knockout victory over Texan Calvin Pitts, who was floored thrice that prompted the TKO at 2:21. The win improved Garcia’s record to 6-0 with five KOs, while Pitts fell to 5-12-1.

Former four-time US amateur champion Roberto Marroquin (13-0, 10 KOs) dealt Sammy Sanchez his first loss in six fights by knocking him out at 1:36 of the second round of their super-bantamweight duel.

Salvador Sanchez knocked out Jamie Villa (8-8-2 3KOs) twice in the sixth round of their featherweight bout and improved his win-loss-draw record to 19-3-2.

Sonsona downs Pastrana

Filipino super-bantamweight Eden Sonsona scored an eighth-round knockout victory over erstwhile world champion Mauricio Pastrana of Colombia in the undercard of “The Event”.

Sonsona (21-5), who posted his seventh KO win in 26 fights, decked Pastrana earlier in the round before finishing him off at 1:33.

Sonsona also downed Pastrana (35-13-2, 23 KOs) seconds before the end of the third round with a right-left combination.

In an eight-round bout, Filipino featherweight Michael Farenas (27-2-3, 24 KOs) and American boxer Joe Morales (20-13, 4 KOs) saw their fight end in a no contest when a clash of heads in the second round opened an ugly cut over the right eye of Morales.

Farenas was in total control up to the time of the stoppage at 2:25 of the second round. (Sunnex)