Rene Santiago Stops Vivas; Earns Right to Face Jonathan Gonzalez
When suddenly presented with the opportunity of a lifetime, you have to be ready to take it. That was the case for Puerto Rico’s Rene “El Chulo” Santiago (13-3, 10 KOs) as he scored a twelfth-round knockout over Kevin Vivas (7-1, 2 KOs) to win the WBO Interim junior flyweight title at Alexis Arguello Arena in Managua, Nicaragua.
Santiago is a sharpshooter who would prefer to box than stand in the center ring and trade. He did a good job of keeping his distance and picking his. When Viva got close, Santiago would hold. Vivas seemed frustrated by Santiago’s speed and awkward style in the early rounds.
Understanding that he could not win a boxing match, Vivas applied more pressure and made it a more physical fight in the middle rounds. Fighting in his home country of Nicaragua, Vivas attacked Santiago’s body and began to rough him up. The action became ugly at times, but Vivas’ tactics were effective.
ONE PUNCH CAN CHANGE EVERYTHING
It was a close fight entering the last round. Then things ended suddenly. A minute into the twelfth and final round, a pinpoint jab from Santiago landed perfectly in the pit of Vivas’ midsection. Writhing in pain, Vivas went down to one knee. Unable to get up, referee Tony Weeks counted him out, and just like that, the fight was over.
Santiago scored the biggest win of his career and is now the WBO Interim titleholder, which became available when illness forced full-time WBO 108-pound champion Jonathan Gonzalez to pull out of a scheduled title defense against Gerardo Cabrera. With the victory over Cabrera, Santiago puts himself in line for a fight with Gonzalez.
