By Jim Dower: Panamanian slugger Ameth Diaz (30-10, 21 KO’s) made easy work of Australian Leonardo Zappavigna (25-2, 17 KO’s), knocking him down two times en route to stopping him in the 5th round in an International Boxing Federation (IBF) lightweight title eliminator on Friday night at The Melbourne Pavilion in Flemington, Victoria, Australia.

Diaz, 28, put Zappavigna down in the 2nd with a powerful right hand and then knocked him down again in the 5th after hurting him with a right hand. After hurting him, Diaz followed up with a flurry of shots while Zappavigna tried to cover up in the corner, knocking him down for the 2nd and final time in the fight. Zappavigna was simply too slow and weak to compete with the taller more powerful Diaz.

Zappavigna, with his crowding style, had his moments in each of the rounds, as he landed some nice wide hooks in the 1st, 3rd, and 4th rounds. However, his shots were never as good as Diaz’s straight hands.

In the opening round, Zappavigna landed a looping right hand that caught Diaz square in the face. Instead of just taking it, Diaz responded with a big right hand that knocked Zappavigna with one of his gloves hitting the canvas. The referee blew it and didn’t call it a knockdown but it clearly was.

Diaz caught Zappavigna with a perfect right hand in the 2nd that put Zappavigna on the canvas. He got up slowly and fought without any signs of being hurt, but the punch seemed to change Zappavigna style, making him more cautious.

In the 3rd round, Diaz continued to dominate with his jabs and powerful right hands. Like always, Zappavigna crowded Diaz, throwing wide punches but lacking the power and the speed to hurt Diaz. Near the end of the round, Diaz caught Zappavigna with hard right uppercut from the outside that snapped Zappavigna’s head back.

Zappavigna had a good 4th, landing a lot of head shots as he crowded Diaz and outworked him in this round. Diaz came on in the last 40 seconds of the round to land a lot of big right hand shots. However, Zappavigna outworked him for the most part in the round.

In the 5th, Zappavigna was having a really good round until he got tagged with a big right hand at the same time he was trying to throw a right of his own. The shot staggered Zappavigna, causing him to back up to the ropes. Diaz followed him and unloaded a blizzard of shots that ended with Zappavigna sliding down on the canvas and coming to a rest with his back against the ropes. Zappavigna’s corner then threw in the towel, and the fight was stopped by referee Robert Byrd.