Rahman-Maskaev undercard taking shape

Jose Armando Santa Cruz will put his WBC interim lightweight championship on the line against David Diaz (31-1-1) of Chicago on the undercard of the Hasim Rahman vs. Oleg Maskaev PPV championship fight card on August 12 at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas.

Santa Cruz (23-1, 13 knockouts), a 25-year-old from Mexico, holds 2006 wins over Michael Lozado (NABF title fight), Edner Cherry (NABF ‘Fight of the Year’) and Chikashi Inada (WBC Interim Lightweight Championship).

A veteran of the 1996 Olympics, Diaz, age 30, is 5-1 in his last six fights.

Diego Corrales is the WBC lightweight titleholder but the sanctioning body wanted someone to vie for the strap, so they had Santa Cruz and Inada battle for it on May 20.

(Email news tips to Michael Woods at Fightwrite@gmail.com)