By Miguel Maravilla at ringside
In a huge upset, undefeated Giovani “Gallo de Oro” Santillan (32-0, 17 KOs) knocked out WBO #1 welterweight Alexis “Lex” Rocha (23-2, 15 KOs) in round six on Saturday night at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California. Santillan put a beat down on Rocha. Rocha’s nose was pouring blood early. Santillan dropped Rocha twice in round five and finished him with another knockdown in round six.
Going straight at it and fighting on the inside, Rocha and Santillan went right at it a phonebooth fight. Santillan staggered Rocha to begin the second round. Pressing to begin the third, Santillan pumped the jab as Rocha’s nose appeared to be busted gushing blood, but that did not stop the Santa Ana fighter’s momentum. The fourth round began with Santillan landing a chopping left, the San Diego fighter continued and connected with a sharp combination as Rocha appeared very sluggish and on the receiving end of Santillan’s offensive.
Santillan dropped Rocha to begin the fifth. The bloodied Rocha got up and continued showing grit. Rocha was droped again was saved by the bell. Santillan finished off Rocha in the sixth, knocking him down for a third time as referee Ray Corona waved it off at 1:13.
In the co-feature bout, Los Angeles’s John “Scrappy” Ramirez (13-0, 9 KOs) scored a fourth-round knockout over Ronal Batista (15-4, 9 KOs) of Panama in a WBA super flyweight title eliminator. It was a slow start for Ramirez as he took his time stalking and measured Batista early in the fight. Things began to sizzle as Ramirez connected and cornered Batista in the third landing with hooks and chopping rights flush on the chin to finish the round. A crunching left hook to the body by Scrappy dropped Batista in the fourth, then Ramirez finished him off with a vicious right knocking down Batista for a second time as referee Jack Reiss stopped the fight at 2:33.
Gabriela Fundora (12-0, 5 KOs) of Coachella, California won the IBF flyweight champion by knocking out Arely “Ametralladora” Muciño (32-4-2, 11 KOs) of Monterrey, Mexico in the fifth. Mucino attacked Fundora at the opening bell, taking swings at the much taller opponent as Fundora adjusted to strike with a solid straight, later to close the round Fundora staggered Mucino to the corner as she was saved by the bell from the attack. Continuing where they left off, Mucino charged as Fundora countered and connected with straight shots. Mucino was dropped to begin the fifth and continued to fight, referee Jack Reiss gave Mucino a standing eight count but she couldn’t continue and Reiss stopped the fight at 1:18 of the fifth. Continue reading “Upset: Santillan knocks out #1 Rocha in six”