LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Omar Figueroa retained his World Boxing Council belt with a 12-round split decision win over Jerry Belmontes in a lightweight title fight on Saturday.

Figueroa was able to outwork and outsmart Belmontes, winning 116-112 and 118-110 on two of the judge's scorecards. The other judge scored it 115-113 for Belmontes.

The Mexican-American improved to 23-0-1 with 17 knockouts after making his first title defence.

It marked the fourth loss in six fights for the American, who dropped to 19-4 with five knockouts.

Figueroa was coming off an impressive victory over Nihito Arakawa in July.

In the main event, Keith Thurman kept his perfect record intact by stopping Julio Diaz after the third round of their welterweight bout.

Thurman (23-0) forced Diaz to take a knee in the second round and then hit him with some solid power punches in the third. Diaz dropped to 40-10-1.

Diaz's corner threw in the towel after the third round saying their fighter could not come out for the fourth because of a rib injury.