Giovanni Santillan Wins Along With Villa and Dutchover in SoCal

RINGSIDE AT THE DOUBLETREE — ONTARIO, CALIF.-In a night of rugged tests, but no upsets, Giovanni Santillan found Mexico’s Omar Tienda to be a stonewall of a human being as he hammered and hammered but never could completely crack the challenger on Friday night.

Santillan (21-0, 11 KOs) returned to the Doubletree Hotel and navigated his way to a victory by unanimous decision over Tienda (18-4, 11 KOs) after eight rounds in a super lightweight contest. It was Thompson Boxing Promotions first boxing card for 2017. The attendance was about 1,000 fans.

The last time Santillan fought he blew by his opponent after four one-sided rounds last November. It was hardly a test for the San Diego southpaw whose nickname is “Gallo de Oro.”

Tienda was brought in by Thompson Boxing to provide a good measuring stick on Santillan’s abilities. The Mexican from Nuevo Leon, Mexico had previously lost to Carlos Morales in a blood-fest by decision. In another, he floored Brazil’s Everton Lopes twice in an eight round fight and still lost by majority decision. The Brazilian has not fought since.

Needless to say Tienda was a handful for Santillan, especially in the beginning as he lowered his head and rushed like a bull.

But midway through the scheduled eight round match, Santillan began to find the chink in Tienda’s armor. A consistent body attack suddenly slowed down the rushes of the Mexican super lightweight. Soon, uppercuts whipped through Tienda’s guard and Santillan was on his way to victory.

All three judges scored the fight 80-72 for Santillan.

Other bouts

A super featherweight bout saw Santa Ana’s Erick Ituarte (16-1-1, 2 KOs) out-point Mexican southpaw Naciff Martinez to win by unanimous decision after eight rounds. Ituarte was never able to hurt Martinez but kept the fight at his distance to win the rather closely fought contest.

Ruben Villa (4-0, 2 KOs) remained undefeated with a clear-cut but slightly frustrating victory over the awkward fighting Francisco Camacho (2-7-1) of Mexico. Villa, a southpaw, was slightly mesmerized by the peculiar foot movement of Camacho who never stopped trying to win the fight. His puppet-like movement kept Villa from establishing a full attack, but could not stop the boxer from Salinas, Calif. from keeping the momentum. All three judges gave Villa all four rounds 40-36 in the super featherweight contest.

“Camacho had an awkward style. I had to chase him around the ring, but that wasn’t anything that I hadn’t seen before. I got my shots in every round and dominated the decision win,” said Villa.

South Central L.A.’s Rudy “Tiburon” Garcia (3-0) out-hustled David “Choco” Martino (2-1, 2 KOs) over four rounds to win by decision after four bantamweight rounds. Garcia was effective to the body but Martino had his moments throughout the fight. Though smaller in size, Martino proved game but was unable to land more than single blows and that proved the difference in the fight.

Texas super featherweight Michael Dutchover (3-0, 3 KOs) knocked out Tijuana’s Jose Mora (0-3) with a three-punch combination punctuated by a clean-up left hook at 2:07 of the first round. Mora slammed the back of his head on the mat as he went down and was unconscious for several minutes. He recovered under his own strength. Dutchover has a lot of accuracy with that long left hook.

“I was sitting on my punches well and when I saw an opening, I went for it. I caught him flush with the left hook and that was it,” said Dutchover who lives in Midland, Texas. “I’m glad I was able to finish it early.”

Mexico’s Francisco Armenta (3-0) survived a four round super lightweight war with fearless Cody Peterson (1-2) that was as bloody as it was action-filled. No knockdowns were scored in the fight but plenty of punches were landed. Two judges saw it 40-36 and a third 39-37. Kansas City’s Peterson never quit and always had a puncher’s chance in the solid fight.

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