SANTILLAN BLOWS CHANCE FOR $200,000 PAYDAY
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 18 Feb 2008
The Philippines OPBF welterweight champion Rev ?Gentle Giant? Santillan blew his chance for a $200,000 payday against emerging Mexican star Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in a Top Rank promotion on April 26 when he suffered a sixth round TKO loss to Japan?s Motoki Sasaki in Tokyo on Saturday.
Rex ?Wakee? Salud who was at ringside in Tokyo used to manage Santillan who now fights out of Japan. Salud said that with the stunning defeat, Santillan lost the opportunity to make a name for himself in a big Bob Arum promotion.
Well-known boxing writer, matchmaker and manager Joe Koizumi reported that the sturdy, 32 year old Sasaki started with a furious attack to stun the 30 year old Filipino southpaw in the opening round.
Sasaki who was four inches shorter than the 5'11" Santillan dropped the Filipino with a perfectly-timed left hook towards the end of round two and continued the onslaught in rounds three and four to completely befuddle Santillan.
Santillan suffered a gash on his forehead by an accidental head-butt in the third round and was often caught by solid combinations. However, the Filipino came back with what Koizumi said was ?his trade-mark long southpaw lefts? to win the round.
Sasaki suddenly ?turned loose with a four-inch combo? according to Koizumi and decked Santillan with a cracking left hook in the closing seconds of the sixth round before pinning the Filipino in a corner and dropping him once again with a ?barrage of punches? giving referee Shimakawa no choice but to call a halt.
Santillan dropped to 24-4-1 with 17 knockouts while Sasaki improved to 29-7-1 with 19 knockouts. Santillan? s stunning loss followed his sixth round TKO victory over another Japanese Taisei Marumoto last July 14..
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