JULIO DIAZ TKO5 DAVID TORRES

Julio Diaz is back, looking as good as ever after a fifth-round destruction of the hopelessly overmatched David Torres on Wednesday Night Fights.

Diaz’s brother and trainer, Joel had told me before the fight that we would see Diaz back to his best, and so he was. Torres pressed forwards but wasn’t hitting much, and he was taking a hammering as Diaz effortlessly moved from orthodox to southpaw and back again and punished his opponent from each posture.

Diaz looked huge at 139.2 pounds — 1.2 pounds over the agreed limit. He was like a junior welterweight against a lightweight. His punches were sharp, and Torres didn’t stand a chance. Nose bloodied, and given an eight count when staggered into the ropes by a left hook in the third round, Torres’s only hope was to hang on, get into the second half of the fight and somehow try to wear down the faster, classier Diaz, but an ugly swelling under the left eye put paid to that and the ringside doctor was right to recommend the stoppage.

I wrote in a revised preview that when a boxer fails to make weight, one of two things can happen: he will be much stronger than his opponent or he will perform disappointingly. We saw what happened tonight.

Diaz looked like a monster against the shorter Torres — like a junior welter against a lightweight. I should have known that Joel Diaz, who has done such a good job training Timothy Bradley, wouldn’t have sent his brother into the fight in less than perfect condition. What we saw was a far superior fighter beating up a smaller one who didn’t belong in the same ring with him, and when Torres’s left cheek started to swell alarmingly it was a relief when the fight was stopped.