Former WBC Lightweight champion David Diaz has announced his retirement according to Dan Rafael espn.com.

“I’m done with the sport. I love the sport, but I would be doing it an injustice if I kept fighting. My heart isn’t in it anymore,” Diaz, 35, told ESPN.com on Wednesday. “I could have taken fights just for the money, but it’s not about that. It’s about giving a good fight and having some dignity doing it.”

On that night, Aug. 4, 2007, Diaz outpointed all-time great Erik Morales of Mexico in a slugfest that sent Morales into a 2½-year retirement.

“That was one of the greatest moments of my life,” Diaz said. “It was always a dream of mine to fight at home for a title or in a title fight and it happened, and it happened against a legend in Erik Morales, who has done tremendous things for the sport and the Mexican people. To share the ring with him and have that fight at home was so meaningful to me.”

Although Pacquiao bloodied Diaz and stopped him in the ninth round of a lopsided fight to take his belt, Diaz said it was one of the two highlights of his career, along with the hometown defense against Morales.

“Fighting Manny Pacquiao was definitely one of them,” Diaz said. “After our fight he went on to do great things. His punching power was nothing that I hadn’t felt before, but the speed was something I could not control or adapt to.”

Including the Pacquiao fight, Diaz closed his career 2-3 but said retirement had been on his mind since he lost a decision to Humberto Soto for a vacant lightweight belt in March 2010 on the Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey undercard at Cowboys Stadium.

“It’s been on my mind since then. I thought maybe I had lost a step or two because I saw openings against Soto and I couldn’t take advantage of them,” Diaz said.

Diaz returned 10 months later for a majority decision win against Robert Frankel

Headlining on ESPN2’s “Friday Night Fights,” Diaz knocked down rising contender Hank Lundy but suffered a severe cut over his right eye and was eventually knocked out in the sixth round of a bloody fight in Hammond, Ind., just outside of Chicago.

“I felt good going into that fight but Lundy was young blood coming along and I thought if I didn’t take that fight, what I am doing, just padding my record? So I took the fight and Hank Lundy deserves credit,” Diaz said. “I had him, but he came back and that was it. He’s a good fighter with a bright future and wish him nothing but the best.”

“I didn’t want to think, ‘Am I fighting just for the money?’ Nah. I love the sport a lot but I wasn’t performing to my standards and giving great exciting fights,” he said. “I wasn’t doing that anymore. So I’m getting out while I still have my senses with me. I’m able to have a conversation with people. I’m hosting a radio show and having fun with that. So this is a good time to say goodbye. I love the sport, I love my fans and it was a great run. I’ve been blessed. I feel humbled by the people that helped me and supported me and always were there for me.

“Now it’s time to get a real job, because what I did (as a fighter) was fun — work out, travel and fight. It was beautiful.”

Earlier tonight on the 2011 Season Finale of ESPN’s “Friday Night Fights”, 2008 U.S. Olympian, Demetrius Andrade took a step way up in class and won a dominate ten round unanimous decision over tough veteran, and winner of Season 2 of “The Contender”, Grady Brewer.

Andrade might have been the much younger and less experienced of the two, but it didn’t show as he worked his game-plan to a T, taking the veteran Brewer to school for their entire ten round jr. middleweight contest.

Working behind a piston-like jab, Andrade kept Brewer off balance and guessing all night long. Brewer who was coming off one of, if not the biggest win of his career, a fourth round TKO over previously undefeated and highly regarded Fernando Guerrero (21-0) on ESPN, just couldn’t put together any offense against the much quicker and more skilled Andrade. It was a very impressive showing for Andrade, who took the fight on very short notice, and silenced many boxing insiders who felt he was in over his head, winning the bout easily on all three judge’s scorecards 99-91, 99-91, 98-92. With the win Andrade improves to a 14-0, 9KO’s, while Brewer who suffered just the second defeat in his last twelve fights, falls to 28-13, 16KO’s

“Hammerin” Hank Lundy scored a wild war sixth round stoppage over former world champion David Diaz in a scheduled ten round Lightweight bout.

Lundy showed superior handspeed while Diaz showed toughness and grit. The fight took on a life in round four when Diaz landed a huge shot to the top of the head that had Lundy stumble to the canvas. Lundy went for the end but got caught with a big shot that caused a grotesque cut around his right eye. Diaz continued to land body and head shots until he ran into a bog right from Lundy. Diaz responded by ending the round with a big left.

Diaz was bleeding bad from the eye and was even checked by the ringside doctor. When the doctor let him continue Diaz started to fight with alot of urgency but that left him open for a big left hand that was followed by a series of lefts.

Lundy opened up the sixth with a big left hand that sent Diaz down and out at thirty-seven seconds of rounds.

Lundy, 134 1/2 lbs of Philadelphia is now 21-1-1- with eleven knockouts. Diaz, 134 1/2 lbs of Chicago is now 36-4-1.

“There’s something about those straight punches,” Lundy said. “When you land those straight punches, you don’t even have to look. You know once you connect, it’s done.

“Everyone can get hurt,” he continued. “Even with gloves on, it doesn’t matter. You can get touched in the right way and go down, but it’s how you finish the fight. Like the scriptures say, ‘We fall down, but we get back up.’ It’s all about how you finish, and God gave me the power to get up and finish.”

“I think that was my mistake,” Diaz said. “I should’ve been more calm because my legs were still wobbly.”

“[The cut] got him frustrated,” Lundy said. “I’ve been cut before, so it all depends on your career. Some guys see their own blood and fold under pressure and get a little tentative. I know when I get cut I’m going to see my own blood, but that makes me work harder.”

“It blurred my vision a lot,” Diaz said. “It was just coming down, but you’ve got to push through. That’s what I tried to do.”

“I broke him down a little bit,” Lundy said. “They know I’m a switch hitter so when I turned it right-handed I said, ‘OK, I’m going to try to go southpaw and try to land that overhand left.’

“I feigned him with the jab, he clinched, and then the left hand came over the top that he didn’t see. He was out. [My trainer] Sloan [Harrison] has been helping me turn those punches over. Everyone on the Lundy team has been working hard and that’s what we’ve been doing – turning those punches over.”

“My mistake was going to my right,” Diaz said. “I should’ve gone to my left and stayed away from the left hand that was coming.”

“I would love to have a rematch if he would accept it,” Diaz said. “This is boxing. [Stuff] happens. You get hit, you get hurt, you get cut – if you don’t, then it’s not boxing. Back in the old days, guys used to get knocked out everyday and come back in a month or two and start fighting again, so it’s no big deal.”

“You know what? Any guys in the 135-pound division that’s willing to fight me – [Robert] Guerrero, any of these top guys – let’s go,” Lundy said. “If not, I’ll go up to 140.

“I was fighting at 140 making a statement. Most of my knockouts came at 140, so I can bang with the big guys. God willing, anybody that comes my way, let’s get it. Let’s get it.”

Yakubu Amadu scored a third round stoppage over Martin Tucker in a scheduled six round Lightweight bout.

Amadu landed a big right that sent off a flurry that produced six hard punches and the referee stopped the bout at …

Amadu, 134 1/2 lbs of Accra, Ghana is now 20-2-1 with eighteen knockouts. Tucker, 136 lbs of Toledo, OH is now 7-10