Diaz part of inaugural fight card at SportPark

He was 0 for 10. No hits, 10 swings.

Antonio Diaz does not have a promising future in baseball.

But in boxing, that's another subject.

Diaz, who headlines tonight's first boxing card at the All-American SportPark in Las Vegas, may not have handled the brisk deliveries in the compound's batting cages Thursday, yet he tackled the project with a certain vigor.

He'll bring that same approach into the ring with him when he faces veteran Marlon Thomas in the 12-round main event that will be televised on ESPN2.

Diaz, who celebrates his 23rd birthday next week, is a junior welterweight with rising credentials. He's 26-2 with 19 knockouts, with both of the losses long ago and mentally far away.

"The truth is, those losses were my fault," he said in a rare admission for a professional fighter. "The first guy I lost to was the worst fighter I ever faced, but I'd been out partying the night before and he beat me by one point."

That was in Diaz's fifth pro fight. He also lost his 12th fight, in Las Vegas, but since then he is 18-0 under Top Rank's guidance and, perhaps, headed for a big-money fight with current IBF lightweight champ Shane Mosley, who is ready to jump a division and fight at 140.

"I'm excited about Mosley because I think I can pressure him and beat him," Diaz said. "Besides, he hasn't looked that great to me."

Before a Diaz vs. Mosley bout falls into place, however, there's the matter of handling tonight's opponent, Thomas.

"I didn't come here just to be somebody's opponent," Thomas corrected. "I came to win."

Thomas, 26, is 18-3-1 with 12 KOs. Like Diaz, he's on a winning streak of his own -- in Thomas' case, it's five.

Nonetheless he's an underdog against Diaz, whose biggest win to date came last year in Las Vegas against Hector Quiroz.

"I've never felt this good," Diaz said. "I've learned from my mistakes and, thanks to Top Rank, I'm getting good exposure. You always need someone behind you, and they've been good to me."

Five other fights are scheduled for a card that opens at 6:30 p.m. and will be held in SportPark's 3,200-seat roller-rink arena. The lineup includes: Kofi Jantuah, 11-0, vs. Daniel Santos, 20-0-1, 10 rounds, welterweights; Tyson Vasquez, 28-18, vs. Nicolas Cervera, 28-2-1, eight rounds, junior middleweights; Miguel Ruiz, 21-4-1, vs. Mark Saurez, 7-0, eight rounds, junior welterweights; Francisco Maldonado, 4-5-2, vs. Julio Diaz, 3-0, four rounds, lightweights; and Eddie Utorov, 4-1, vs. Rudy Martinez, 7-0, four rounds, super bantamweights.

* In a related boxing note, the opponent for Las Vegas' Kevin Kelley on Saturday's card at the Las Vegas Hilton has been changed. Instead of facing Enrique Jupiter, Kelley, 49-3-2, will take on Hector Velazquez, 23-5-1, in a 10-round fight at 126 pounds.

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