The race is over. If any Fighter of the Year award for 2008 goes to any fighter besides Manny Pacquiao, it's bogus. Let's recap Pacquiao's incredible 2008:

• March 15: Pacquiao beats Juan Manuel Marquez in a thrilling rematch via split decision, capturing the vacant Ring Magazine crown as junior lightweight world champion. I scored it razor-thin for Marquez, but it was a toss-up fight and a Fight of the Year candidate. The fight did phenomenal PPV numbers, coming in with around 400,000 buys, an astonishing mark for a card headlined by 130-pound boxers.
• June 28: Pacquiao moves up to 135 pounds for the first time, dismantling David Diaz and knocking him out in the ninth round. Pacquiao uses the extra five pounds well, looking stronger and even faster than ever. The world agrees David Diaz is no world-class fighter, but also not a pushover. And he was never in the fight.
• December 6: "The Dream Match" arrives, and Pacquiao makes it a nightmare for Oscar de la Hoya. Pacquiao embarrasses and humbles de la Hoya, forcing the Golden Boy to quit after eight rounds of punishment. Moving up to 147 pounds has no effect on his speed whatsoever. He is a fighting machine that has no peer in the sport, pound-for-pound.

This is not the first time that Joe Cortez has been under fire -- frankly, it's the second time since December 2007 that Joe Cortez has been very harshly criticized.

We all know the Soto-Lorenzo situation from last night, and if you don't, scroll down to that fight's section in this post for further details.

What is the real current status of Mr. Fair But Firm? Cortez is in his 60s now. Is time simply getting the better of him? He's no younger, really, than the retired Richard Steele, and is only a few years younger than the retired Mills Lane.

It is true that we mostly remember referees for things that have gone wrong. Jay Nady's most memorable moments, for instance, are screwing up a knockdown call in the Barrera-Marquez fight, and having Zab Judah huck a chair at him. Randy Neumann's name is most generally associated with poor refereeing jobs, such as Abraham-Miranda I.

Mayweather-Hatton saw Cortez crucified by many in the boxing community for being too intrusive. It wasn't just the Hatton team; many felt Joe was "making himself a star" in the big fight, involving himself too much.

And now the Soto-Lorenzo disaster, which it seems no one on earth is willing to defend. The WBC has refused to recognize the decision and give Lorenzo the interim title belt that was on the line. Respected veteran boxing scribe Graham Houston laid down this bit of venom:

I don’t know where to begin. I feel about as outraged as Emanuel Steward looked when, almost trembling with emotion, he told Jim Lampley in the HBO summing-up of the travesty: “That was bad!"

I don’t think that the word “bad” is strong enough. This must rank as one of the worst pieces of refereeing in boxing history ... A referee’s actions are not always popular and can be open to dispute. This, though, was a total mishandling of the situation.

Mr. Houston is a level-headed, straightforward boxing journalist. Anyone familiar with his work would probably tell you the same. And he is rather livid. He also recalls, of course, Cortez's OTHER big controversy, the Holyfield-Ruiz rematch, when Cortez infamously took a point away from Holyfield on a beltline shot.

I even think you have to consider how Joe refereed the Hopkins-Calzaghe fight in April. Cortez had no problem letting that fight get a little rough on the inside, times where he may have broken Hatton and Mayweather up. I still have no major issue with Cortez's handling of the Hatton fight; I don't think it had any effect on the outcome of that fight. And he DID do a fine job not believing every Hopkins acting job in April, either.

But at what point does Nevada have to really look at Cortez's abilities these days? At what point does Cortez need to look at them himself, and be honest?

If he's watched the tape -- and no doubt he has -- he has to realize he made a mistake, doesn't he? Yeah, Soto hit Lorenzo when he was down. It happens a lot. It really, really, really does. You simply cannot expect it to never happen, and you can't throw disqualifications around like candy at a Halloween parade.

Particularly in this instance, as Lorenzo was beaten senseless by Soto and the fight needed to be stopped anyway. Was the doctor going to tell Cortez to let it continue if they'd taken a look at Lorenzo? He had a broken nose, blood was pouring out of a cut over his eye, and his legs were shot. Soto creamed him.

How can he justify having stopped the fight for five minutes to confer with the NSAC at ringside, while Lorenzo writhed around in an obvious plea for a favor, lacking the care of the ringside physician, which he actually needed?

How can the NSAC representative that Jim Lampley talked to have really believed in what went down? Lampley made the guy look and sound like a complete idiot in their short interview -- and I think that only happened because the guy didn't sound convinced that the decision was just, but knew it was his job to defend it.

If you were in charge of a major event, would you hire Joe Cortez to referee it right now? That's something that has to be asked. If you'd say no, then why is he refereeing these fights? Shouldn't he not be? There are qualified referees available.

And I would answer "no," to be honest. If I had a choice of any referee to be the third man in the ring for any given bout, I'd take Kenny Bayless, hands down, every time. Frankly, as it stands right now, Cortez wouldn't enter my mind. I wouldn't want him in there.

Maybe it is time for Joe to tip his cap and move on. I'm not saying he was a horrible referee or some great disgrace to the sport. Just that even referees lose it in the squared circle.

SCOTT'S BAD LEFT HOOK UNOFFICIAL SCORECARD
Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Total
David Diaz	9	9	8	9	9	9	9	8					70
Manny Pacquiao	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	KO				80

Records: Pacquiao 47-3-2 (36), Diaz 34-2-1 (17)
Pacquiao wins WBC Lightweight Title

It was a fight that went by a lot of clichés.

Speed kills. Talent beats grit. One man was too tough for his own good.

After being knocked out in the ninth round, having amazingly stayed on his feet through eight rounds of relentless assault, David Diaz readily admitted that the speed of Manny Pacquiao was far too much for him. And we learned that Manny Pacquiao should have no trouble at 135 pounds.

The Filipino icon was sensational in his dominant win over Diaz last night, pummeling the hard-working WBC lightweight titleholder and utterly shutting him down offensively. Diaz's only good work came from the fact that his defense was sound enough to keep him standing as long as he did, because had it been any worse, the fight could have been over in four or five rounds.

Never for a single moment was Diaz in control of the action. Pacquiao moved around the ring beautifully, punching the whole time, and Diaz had no choice but to chase after him, eating shot after shot along the way.

CompuBox numbers were grossly in Pacquiao's favor. Manny landed 230 of his 788 punches, while Diaz connected on just 90 of 463. Manny outworked, outlanded, and simply beat the dog out of Diaz in Las Vegas. He opened up several cuts on the rugged Diaz's face, and finally bent him to his will in the ninth with a short, precise shot that was perfectly timed and finally buckled the legs of the stubborn Mexican warrior.

A lot of folks are already comparing the fight in many ways to the 1951 encounter between Sugar Ray Robinson, who stepped up to fight Jake LaMotta, but that fight took nine rounds to turn into a massacre. This one was a blatant mismatch from the opening bell.

Pacquiao's legend is fully defined, and was before this fight, really. He's a Hall of Fame fighter, and now, it's really hard to argue against him as the best pound-for-pound in the sport. Joe Calzaghe has a fine resume, but Pacquiao's is simply better. Titles at 112, 122, 130 and now 135, wins over the likes of Barrera (twice), Morales (twice) and Marquez. When faced with lesser competition, he generally dominates these days.

Pacquiao lost at 112 to Medgoen Singsurat in September 1999. Since then, he is 21-1-2 with 18 knockouts. It's not about being unbeaten; Pacquiao's lone loss was to Erik Morales, which he brutally avenged two times. It's hard to find an argument against Manny as the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter out there.

As for David Diaz, I'm happy that such a good dude got a nice payday. When all is said and done, he could wind up making about $1 million. He'll finally be able to move up from that '91 Honda, and you know, I hope we see him get some more good fights. No, he wasn't in Pacquiao's league. But Diaz is going to test the durability, heart and soul of anyone that fights him. I have never seen a guy so thoroughly and obviously outclassed keep coming forward the way he did last night. Frankly, he got knocked out because he was still trying to win the fight.

SCOTT'S BAD LEFT HOOK UNOFFICIAL SCORECARD
Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Total
Humberto Soto	10	10	9										29
Francisco Lorenzo	9	9	10	DQ									28

Records: Lorenzo 33-4 (14), Soto 44-7-2 (28)
Fight originally to determine WBC interim Super Featherweight Title
WBC chooses to not award Lorenzo with title

The pay-per-view wrapped up after the Pacquiao win, and I felt like I absolutely had not spent a bad 50 dollars. We got a hell of a fight in the opener, a very pleasing if uncompetitive main event, and a credibility-destroying knockout of an overhyped college basketball player.

What almost ruined it all was the other fight, saved for the prime set-up spot.

Humberto Soto was supposed to destroy the 36-year old Francisco Lorenzo. And he did. I generously gave Lorenzo the third round, and watching the fight was perfectly enjoyable. Lorenzo gave it his all.

But in the fourth, he was knocked down. He was suffering from an obvious broken nose, bleeding badly, and was then cut over his right eye, which bled like a faucet. He was down a second time in a bizarre sequence where referee Joe Cortez seemed to jump in and behaved as if he was going to stop the fight on two occasions, only to strangely jump back out of the action and let them continue.

On that second knockdown, after the two near-interferences by Cortez, the referee jumped in to keep Soto from punching. Soto landed a grazing blow to the top/back of Lorenzo's head. Now, the knockdown was not a spectacular one. Lorenzo's knee hit the canvas, and he was slowly going down. Plus, Cortez jumped in on Soto and told him to stop in mid-punch -- the punch that grazed.

After much deliberation and a fine acting job by Lorenzo that fooled the Nevada State Athletic Commission into thinking that that show, of all the things that landed, might have given him a concussion, Cortez chose to disqualify Soto and award the fight to Lorenzo, who was on his knees with blood gushing down his face, all from legal punches. Every single drop of blood was the result of a legal punch. And the disqualifying blow was just absurd.

Plus, listen...a concussion? Seriously? Congratulations, Mr. Lorenzo, on winning the boxing Oscar this month. I just wasn't aware that going, "My head! He hit me in my head! Hey, you know what?! I think maybe I have a concussion!" was a sure sign of a potential concussion.

I know it's a judgment call on Cortez's part, and by the book, you can defend it. But as has been said before, there are differences between the letter of the law and the spirit of the rule. Soto was CLEARLY the better fighter. Cortez and/or the ringside physician were almost certainly going to stop the fight after that knockdown anyway.

Emmanuel Steward was incensed, as was Jim Lampley. But Steward looked downright furious; I've never seen him so angry, even working a corner. He was livid.

His anger was not misplaced. Soto was positively jobbed in this fight, and always remember that loss No. 7 on his record comes with a massive asterisk. When asked if he wanted a rematch, Soto replied simply, "I don't know if he'll want one. I'm gonna take his head off next time."

SCOTT'S BAD LEFT HOOK UNOFFICIAL SCORECARD
Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total
Tye Fields
Monte Barrett	KO

Records: Barrett 34-6 (20), Fields 41-2 (37)

I never want to hear another word from Bob Arum or anyone else about the potential destruction that Tye Fields will bring to the heavyweight division.

Anyone that wasn't financially invested in Fields could have seen long ago that this guy was a joke, a basketball player-turned-boxer who didn't start fighting until 24. At 6'8", he towered over most opponents. But he also just didn't know how to fight. He punched with all the rhythm and fluidity of a dog standing on its hind legs, and he moved around with the grace of a dump truck.

He could hit, sure. He could generate enough power just based on his frame to knock out chumps like Roderick Willis, or spent veterans like Bruce Seldon. Yet he had never faced a real fighter.

I expected that he would hurt the 37-year old Monte Barrett last night, and eventually knock him out, using his length to keep Barrett eternally at bay. Instead, as Fields lumbered about the ring, Barrett simply kept his head moving, made Fields drop what little guard he had in the first place, and then...

Wham! One big right hand crushes into Fields' jaw, and the onslaught starts. Fields would have crumbled to the mat right there with the slightest bit of wind, but Barrett kept throwing on him, landing a flurry of punches that sent Fields -- as Lampley called it -- "down on his butt."

57 seconds. That's how long it took for Barrett, a faded 37-year old former fringe contender that never broke through, to massacre Tye Fields. One flurry of punches. Fields looked as though he had absolutely no business in the ring with someone that accomplished. And if you can't look OK against someone like "Two Gunz," then you're done. You're not a champion, you're not a contender, you're not a potential contender, you're not anything.

It's not Tye's fault that I don't like him. He always did the job put in front of him to the best of his ability. He did it last night, too. The problem I had was this guy was shoved down our throats while having absolutely no natural talent whatsoever. This outcome should have been obvious. I thought I'd give Big Sky Tye the benefit of the doubt and say it'd happen against someone a little better than Monte, but nope -- Monte Barrett was plenty enough to get the job done.

Imagine if they'd ever stuck Fields into a ring with Peter or Klitschko or even Chagaev or Ibragimov.

SCOTT'S BAD LEFT HOOK UNOFFICIAL SCORECARD
Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Total
Steven Luevano	10	10	10	10	9	9	9	9	10	9	10	9	114
Mario Santiago	9	9	9	9	10	10	10	10	9	10	9	10	114

Official Scores: 117-111 Luevano, 115-113 Santiago, 114-114
Both fighters down in the second round
Records: Luevano 35-1-1 (15), Santiago 19-1-1 (14)
Luevano retains WBO Featherweight Title

An outstanding fight, full of great momentum shifts, paced wonderfully, and featuring a superb clashing of the styles.

Luevano controlled the first four rounds, though both men tasted the floor in the second. The next four went Santiago's way.

And Mario Santiago, it's worth saying, may have given this fight away. As he went all out trying to stop Luevano in the eighth round, he punched himself out. He wound up essentially giving away the ninth round, and did the same again in the eleventh. It was a fight Santiago probably should have won, as he suckered Luevano into mixing it up more than he'd usually want to.

A rematch is certainly warranted. The 126-pound ranks are thinning, as Robert Guerrero is moving up, Chris John doesn't want to fight anyone worth a damn, and now it appears as though Jorge Linares might go to 130, too. It is worth noting, though, that Edwin Valero will not be leaving the featherweight division, as Jim Lampley noted numerous times last night. That's because Valero has never fought at featherweight to begin with. What a strange boner on Big Jim's part.

Luevano-Santiago stole fight of the night honors, which I didn't really expect. Santiago is an aggressive fighter, but Luevano is best known as a counter-punching tactician. Last night, he chose to trade leather with a slugger. Maybe not his smartest course of action, but a good fight came out of it.

Quick results:

Manny Pacquiao TKO-9 David Diaz

Francisco Lorenzo DQ-4 Humberto Soto (horrible, horrible, horrible call, and we'll talk more about it tomorrow)

Monte Barrett KO-1 Tye Fields (57 seconds)

Steven Luevano D-12 Mario Santiago

Pacquiao looked phenomenal, overwhelmed Diaz the entire fight. Very fast, very strong. Diaz was too tough for his own good. At the time of stoppage, I had it 80-70 for Manny. He never got even close to losing a single round.

Luevano-Santiago was superb. I had it 114-114. Official scores were 117-111 Luevano, 115-113 Santiago, 114-114. Would love to see a rematch. Great style matchup, lots of momentum shifts.

Loved seeing Fields go down so hard against Barrett, who creamed him with six punches. It was a boxer against a guy in gloves. Plain as that.

The Lorenzo DQ was despicable. Manny Steward was incensed, and Lampley got into one of his rants. It was all deserved. Horrible call by Joe Cortez.

LEGITIMATE QUOTE FROM DAVID DIAZ AFTER THE FIGHT:

"He was too fast. F---er was too fast."

David Diaz is one hell of a likable guy.

It's really a pretty familiar storyline by now, isn't it?

In this corner, the underdog. WBC lightweight titlist David Diaz is a +350 bet on Saturday night, a fighter that has only recently started garnering any attention. For a guy who teamed with Floyd Mayweather, Jr., and Antonio Tarver in the '96 Olympics, his career as a pro has been a very slow burn.

At 32, he is entering the biggest fight of his career for the third time in his last four bouts. First, it was a fight with Jose Armando Santa Cruz for the (ridiculously) interim title. Diaz rallied to upend Santa Cruz in the end, scoring a 10th round TKO. Diaz was losing on all three scorecards at the point of stoppage (88-83, 88-83, 87-84).

After that, he was awarded full title rights when the WBC (absurdly) stripped Joel Casamayor, and he signed on to fight legend Erik Morales, who was eight months removed from a vicious three-round beating at the hands of Manny Pacquiao.

Morales started strong, but it was Diaz who finished strong. In a hell of an exciting fight, Diaz retired Morales with a close (114-113, 115-113, 115-112) unanimous decision after having tasted canvas early in the fight. He was beaten bloody, but he had the fresher and stronger legs over 12 rounds.

In his last fight, he faced noted sparring partner Ramon Montano in a non-title bout on the undercard of Pacquiao-Marquez II. It wasn't even supposed to make the PPV telecast, but did so as the opener. It was all to keep Diaz fresh for Manny.

It's hard to say that David Diaz brings anything exceptional to the table when he fights, except for grit. He's a tough guy with a good chin. He does nothing great, but he also isn't notably poor in any one area. His best asset might be his defense, but he has that mean streak in him that causes him to throw leather, even against superior punchers. His power isn't great, but isn't so weak that it's to be ignored. His hand speed is OK. His footwork is solid. And when he's in his rhythm, he fights very smart.

He also knows what sort of opportunity this is. It's -- by far -- his biggest payday. It's the first time he's been a legit pay-per-view headliner. (You can't count the Morales show, which was "promoted by" HBO but was given as much attention as your random B.A.D.)

If David Diaz beats Manny Pacquiao, no longer is he the wandering lost soul of a suddenly-packed 135-pound division. He's in running to be The Man.

In this corner, the superstar. Former 112, 122, and current 130-pound champion/titleholder Manny Pacquiao, the Filipino combination of Muhammad Ali and The Beatles. Pacquiao, 29, is arguably the biggest global star in boxing, and is one of the greatest "small man" attractions the sport has ever known.

The 'is he in shape?" stuff is there, as always, though less so this time. The stories of Freddie Roach trying to keep Manny in check are there, as always, though less so this time. And the fighter that started as a strawweight keeps moving up and on.

What more is there to say about Manny Pacquiao at this point? His ticket to Canastota is punched. He has two wins apiece over Marco Antonio Barrera (both dominations) and Erik Morales (both exciting brawls, and their first fight, which Pacquiao lost, might've been the best of their encounters). He beat Juan Manuel Marquez in a tight decision, years after their epic draw.

He is known as "The Mexecutioner" in some circles, though it's a nickname he doesn't particularly like. Diaz, a Chicago-born Mexican-American, doesn't have the credentials that Marco Antonio, Erik, or Juan Manuel did when they fought Manny.

But Manny's coming to his house, too. Diaz is a true lightweight, a fighter that boxed around 140 (even going up to 147 once) until settling in at 135 in 2005, nine years after his pro debut.

2005, coincidentally, is also the last year that saw Pacquiao lose a fight.

Can Diaz beat Pacquiao? Can he score what would be the new Upset of the Year?

No. Probably not. Let's be honest, he's an underdog for a reason. He's a good guy and I'm happy he's fought his way into this position, and I wish him all the best. Pacquiao is, simply put, a far more dynamic, lethal boxer than is Diaz. The comparison between the two is not very close.

Power? Advantage Pacquiao. Speed? Advantage Pacquiao. Chin? Advantage Pacquiao, probably. Big fight experience? Obviously, advantage Pacquiao.

It's going to be a very tough row for Diaz to hoe on Saturday night.

It has been a year of upsets, but not yet one that has truly been an epic, Cinderella Man-ish "shock the world"-type. It has also (Oscar-Forbes, Pavlik-Lockett, Cotto-Gomez, etc.) been a year filled with some real mismatches. This might be another one.

I don't mean to count Diaz out, but on paper? Count him out.