SANTISIMA PASSES MEXICAN HURDLE

Jeo Santisima scores UD win in ‘toughest fight of his life’

Jeo Santisima displayed tremendous heart and determination after defending his World Boxing Organization (WBO) Oriental super bantamweight belt with a convincing unanimous decision over tough and determined Mexican challenger Uriel Lopez in a 12-round war in the main event of Pinoy Pride 45-“Quest for Greatness” at the IEC Convention Center on Saturday, Nov. 24.

“This was the toughest fight of my life. It was the first time I fought a Mexican. I thank him for giving me a good fight,” said Santisima, who got the nod of all three judges with scores of 117-111, 117-111 and 118-110.

Lopez came into the fight as good as advertised. He was very aggressive all night long, moving forward and throwing combinations, and always looking for the knockout.

The 22-year-old Santisima, however, boxed beautifully. He was more accurate with his combinations. He landed consistently on Lopez’s head but the latter was tough as nails.

Santisima turned on Lopez’s body in the later rounds and seemed to hurt him. There were times in the later rounds that Lopez was ready to go down but somehow the Mexican still remained standing.

Santisima improved to 17-2 with 14 knockouts, Lopez dropped to 13-7-1 with six knockouts.

On the other hand, KJ Cataraja (9-0, 7 KOs) put on an impressive performance with a unanimous decision over tough Mexican Hugo Reyes (9-2-1, 7 KOs).

Cataraja won 99-91, 99-91 and 100-90 and got the vacant WBO Youth super flyweight strap.

In the meantime, Albert Pagara (31-1, 22 KOs) demolished Ghanaian challenger George Krampah (14-4, 12 KOs) with a first-round knockout in his WBO Inter-Continental super bantamweight title defense.

Pagara caught Krampah with an vicious left uppercut to the body, followed by a one-two combination to the head. Krampah was counted out in the 2:55 mark of the opening round.

In the undercard, one-time world title challenger Jonas Sultan (15-4, 9 KOs) returned to the winning column following a convincing unanimous decision over journeyman Ardin Diale (34-13-4, 16 KOs). Two judges scored it 9892, while the other judge had it 97-93 all for Sultan. /

This was the toughest fight of my life. It was the first time I fought a Mexican JEO SANTISIMA