Francisco Santana upsets Felix Diaz in opening round of WBC tournament

Francisco Santana, the “Jose Sulaiman World Invitational” alternate turned eighth-seed, scored a shocking upset in last night’s opening round, felling tournament #1 and former world title challenger Felix Diaz by majority decision.

You can watch the whole fight here.

Santana (25-6-1, 12 KO) had not produced a noteworthy win since taking a wide decision over Joachim Alcine in 2013, while Diaz (19-3, 9 KO), a former Olympian, was still in the WBC top 10. It’s quite the turn of events, as Diaz looked poised to easily run the table after the exit of Radzhab Butaev.

Earlier in the evening, #2 Chris Van Heerden (26-2-1, 12 KO) and #3 Fredrick Lawson (27-1, 21 KO) defeated #7 Timo Schwarzkopf (18-2, 10 KO) and #6 Baishanbo Nasiyiwula (13-2-1, 6 KO), respectively, while #5 Brad Solomon (28-1, 9 KO) got off the canvas to scrape by former alternate Paddy Gallagher (13-4, 8 KO).

Santana-Solomon and Lawson-Van Heerden do not yet have a date or location