Emanuel Navarrete breaks down and stops Joe Santisima
Making the fifth consecutive defense of his WBO junior featherweight title, the hard-hitting Emanuel Navarrete (30-1, 26KOs) would have to get by a first-time title challenger in Jeo Santisima (19-2, 16KOs) from the Philippines.
The opening round between these two heavy-hitters wasn’t anything to write home about! Navarrete landed a couple of jabs at the conclusions, with that really being all the leather he landed.
Round three saw Navarrete start to open up and apply more pressure, as he would open up with left hooks to the body and right-hands to head. That would push his opponent backwards, resulting in little to no return-fire from Santisima.
Round four saw the best back and forth action of the fight, as Santisima rocked Navarrete with a left hook to the neck. The champion wouldn’t be outdone, as he returned fire of his own which clearly got the attention of the challenger.
Round five was huge for the champion, as he completely outclassed Santisima. Pummeling his opponent with a variety of shots , the champion had the Filipino fighter retreating backwards with no answer for the incoming onslaught!
After a continuation of domination from Navarrete, he opened up in a big way in round 10! He went all-out in the effort of trying to secure a knockout of his pesky and tough counterpart to no avail. Head-shot after head-shot had him reeling!
KNOCKOUT SECURED!
After a one-sided beatdown, Navarrete was finally able to put the nail in the coffin on Santisima! A left-hand followed by a right-hand and left hook downstairs really put the hurt on the challenger! Sensing the end near, the champion forged forward throwing the kitchen sink and then some, forcing the referee to jump in and call a halt to the action. For Navarrete, the win comes in the 11th round.
He improves his record to 31-1, 27 KOs, and makes a successful 5th defense of his WBO junior featherweight title.
By: Jerrell Fletcher
