Navarrete knocks out Filipino challenger to retain belt

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Mexican superstar Emanuel Navarrete continued his dominance by knocking out Filipino challenger Jeo Santisima in the undercard bout of the Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder fight.

The 11^th round stoppage helped Navarrete retain his World Boxing Organization super bantamweight belt and had his fifth consecutive successful title defense since becoming champion.

Navarrete landed heavy punches that slowed Santisima and force him to run out of gas in the last four rounds.

Navarrete then unloaded heavy blows in the eleventh round that made the Filipino slugger’s condition worse, forcing the referee to stop the fight at the 2:20 mark.

Santisima looked loose and confident in the early rounds and was even able to score a couple of rounds against the Mexican champ but Navarrete started to become more aggressive and changed his game plan.

From waiting for an opening to hounding Santisima, Navarrete’s change of pace and style paid off as he was able to punish the challenger and add more total points with his efficient boxing midway through the fight.

At the start of the ninth, the Mexican’s power punches began to affect Santisima who already moved slower and spent most of his time backpedaling rather than engaging Navarrete.