Giovani Santillan Victory Over Julio Luna Avila Suffers from Poor Scoring
The welterweight division is loaded with talented young fighters that are viewed as the future of the division. WBO #12 ranked fighter Giovani “Gallo de Oro” Santillan (30-0, 16KOs) and “Canelito” Julio Luna Avila (29-1, 10KOs) are putting their undefeated records on the line in hopes of getting in the mix with some of the bigger names in the division.
Avila has gained wins over subpar competition and will be making an American debut against Santillan. Fighting primarily out of his native country of Mexico, Canelito comes into this fight as a huge underdog looking for the upset.
Santillan is on the rise in the division, and since hooking up with trainer Robert Garcia, there have been vast improvements in his style. In his last three fights, Gallo de Oro boxed beautifully by dominating his opponents, and he even scored an impressive seven-round stoppage over Jeovanis Barraza in April. He is extra motivated fighting in front of the San Diego home crowd.
RELATED: Giovani Santillan Beats Down And Stops Jeovanis Barraza In 7!
BODYWORK BY SANTILLAN
The fight started with both men loading up on big shots early. As Santillan went to the body to slow down the mobile challenger, Luna found a home for the uppercut early in the fight. There was a cut on Santillan from a clash of heads, as the fight at times broke down into a phonebooth every time Luna would lean up against the ropes.
Luna kept the fight in the middle of the ring as he leaned on the ropes less while using the jab and uppercut. He even used his feet evade any return fire. Santillan came forward going to the body but was having trouble breaking the rhythm of his opponent and kept walking into the uppercut.
In round seven was another clash of heads that opened up a bad gash above the eye of Santillan. Luna was bullied up against the ropes by Gallo de Oro, but he fought back with the uppercut, taking advantage of his opponent’s lack of head movement. However, Santillan turned it up by going to the body and landed the long, straight left hand as the hometown crowd cheered for their fighter.
As the fight was coming to a close, Santillan found his boxing skills and started landing blistering combinations. Luna came back by landing body shots and fought hard until the end. The crowd cheered the efforts of both men as the final bell sounded.
Two judges’ scorecards were ridiculous at 100-90. Another had 96-94, all for Santillan. Despite the two bogus scorecards, Santillan got a good win and will have to do better if he wants to challenge the bigger names in the division.
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By: Garrisson Bland
