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Abass Baraou Returns To Winning Form While Scoring Majority
Decision Over Giovani Santillan
Tonight at Frontwave Arena in San Diego, former WBA
junior-middleweight champion Abass Baraou outworked hometown
favorite Giovani Santillan to win a majority 10-round
decision and the WBO Intercontinental Super Welterweight
Championship in the process.
Fighting in the main event of ProBoxTV’s second
“Championship Series” live broadcast, Baraou, 18-2 (9 KOs),
of Berlin, Germany, was too big, too strong and applied too
much pressure for the slicker but smaller Santillan, now
35-2 (18 KOs), to find a path to victory.
Baraou employed a superior work rate to take the first and
second rounds, pushing a hesitant Santillan back repeatedly
with effective aggression.
A fighter who thrives on momentum, Santillan briefly found
his rhythm in the third and landed some quality shots while
finally advancing, only to have Baraou catch him with a
sharp right-hand counter and swing the action back to his
favor by round’s end.
Baraou continued to force the issue in workmanlike fashion
in round four, backing Santillan up and forcing him to the
ropes repeatedly with his busier fists and non-stop forward
movement.
Southpaw Santillan came alive again in round five,
energizing his hometown fans by pinning the bigger Baraou on
the ropes for an extended barrage of power punches to the
head and body.
In round six, Santillan surrendered the momentum he had
built the previous round by allowing Baraou to resume coming
forward and pushing him around the ring. Baraou was starting
and finishing every exchange.
“El Gallo De Oro” Santillan found offensive success in
spurts of two-fisted flurries in round seven, but not often
enough to sway the advantage from the relentless Baraou.
A skilled southpaw and former WBO No. 1 welterweight
contender, Santillan enjoyed a good round eight by switching
to a smooth-boxing approach and forcing Baraou to chase him
into the traps he set.
However, for the second time in the fight, Santillan
followed up a round he had probably won by taking another
three-minute vacation in round nine. By round’s end, Baraou
was taunting his listless foe, trying to bait him into
mixing it up more often.
Baraou finished the fight by walking down Santillan,
taunting him while unleashing the fight’s most extended
two-fisted beating on the clearly faded California native.
The scores were 95-95, overruled by scores of 97-93 and
96-94 for Baraou, who returns to the win column in his first
fight since losing his 154 lbs title by split decision in a
WBO/WBA unification battle against Xander Zayas in late
January this year, and preventing Santillan from winning his
fourth consecutive fight since losing via TKO to Brian
Norman Jnr for the interim WBO welterweight title in May
2024.
“I'm confident everywhere I go, you know? Like if there's a
ring, I'm gonna make it work, and get the win,” said a happy
Baraou, post-fight.
"This is my road back to a world championship and I'm ready
for all the opportunities I can get… Today was the right
first step on the way back to become champion again. One
year from now, you're gonna be calling me a multiple world
champion.”
Santillan-Baraou was presented in association with Top Rank.
In the 10-round junior-lightweight co-main event, former IBF
featherweight world champion Luis Alberto Lopez enjoyed a
successful debut fighting for ProBox Promotions by
mercilessly pummeling veteran Daniel Lugo until dropping and
stopping him in round three.
WBO No. 6- and IBF No. 13-ranked “Venado” Lopez, 33-3 (20
KOs), of Baja California, Mexico, who had fought a total of
just four rounds since losing his IBF title to Angelo Leo in
August 2024, looked sharp while outclassing his countryman
Lugo, 28-5-1 (19 KOs), of Sonora, Mexico.
A pure puncher, Lopez hurt Lugo with a booming left hook
late in round two, but Lugo caught a break when Lopez
accidentally hit him with a low blow while trying to finish
it.
30 seconds after the action resumed, Lopez landed a legal
left hook to the liver that dropped Lugo for a count.
Showing no signs of rust despite his recent inactivity,
Lopez pinned Lugo against the ropes immediately in round
three and unloaded with vicious power to the head and body
until referee Ray Corona saved Lugo from more damage at 1:18
of the third round.
“I was very anxious to return to the ring,” said Lopez after
the fight. “I was trying to get a world champion (to face me
in this fight), unfortunately, none of them were available.
But, hey, I'm happy to be performing here tonight.
“I want to thank all my fans. I know it's not easy to cross
the border. It's getting very difficult, but I promise you,
I will be champion once again.”
In the kind of toe-to-toe battle ProBoxTV has become known
for, undefeated junior-lightweight prospect Dominic Valle
won an action-packed war against Francois Scarboro Jnr by
unanimous 10-round decision.
Scarboro Jnr, now 14-1 (9 KOs), of Cheverly, Maryland, came
out firing from the onset and had Valle, 14-0 (7 KOs), of
Lutz, Florida, cut over the right eye from a punch before
the first round was half over.
Both prospects had their moments in closely fought rounds
two and three.
Fighting for the first time outside his home state, the
taller Valle used his long jab to keep Scarboro Jnr at bay
in the first half of round four. The action picked up
significantly in the second half of the fourth, with
Scarboro Jnr hurting Valle with a series of right hands
against the ropes, only to get hurt by powerful shots from
Valle to the body and head a minute later.
The hostilities continued in rounds five and six, as both
landed their share of clubbing haymakers during non-stop,
tit-for-tat exchanges. Valle may have gotten the better in
round five, Scarboro Jnr the better in round six.
Valle rediscovered his jab to control round seven, as he
used it to set up strong combinations, while forcing a
tiring Scarboro Jnr to miss most of his wild attempts at
landing return shots.
Evenly fought rounds eight and nine saw Scarboro Jnr
utilizing explosive bursts to land combinations, while Valle
continued to pop his jab and land his own combos during the
lulls in Scarboro Jnr’s work.
Scarboro Jnr suffered a cut over the right eye in round
nine.
The final round saw more of the exciting same, with Scarboro
Jnr coming out firing wildly in the first minute, Valle
taking advantage of his winded foe in the second minute and
then more superb back and forth warfare to end the
compelling fight.
In the end, the judges unanimously favored Valle’s more
skillful approach by scores of 96-94, and two surprisingly
wide tallies 98-92 and 98-92.
In the opening bout of the “Championship Series,” members
only, portion of the card, middleweight Hebert Conceicao
Sousa scored an entertaining eighth-round TKO over Jose De
Jesus Adame Chio.
Standing 6-foot-1, the WBO No. 9-ranked (at super
middleweight) Conceicao Sousa, 12-0 (6 KOs), of Salvador,
Bahia, Brazil, enjoyed a big advantage in size over the
5-foot-5 Adame Chio, now 15-1-1 (7 KOs), of Mexicali, Baja
California, Mexico.
However, in the first four rounds, Adame Chio’s forward
movement and constant aggression was surprisingly effective
against 2020 Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Conceicao Sousa,
who appeared to be reluctant to move forward and control the
ring center, instead content to fire single counter punches
in spots.
With the unheralded 27-year-old Adame Chio looking to be
possibly taking over the momentum of the fight from the
still bafflingly listless Conceicao Sousa, the 28-year-old
Brazilian unexpectedly fired a Mexican liver shot and left
hook that wobbled Adame Chio midway through round five.
Adame Chio was sent down from the suddenly energized
Conceicao Sousa’s follow-up volleys. He rose still wobbly
and bleeding from the right eye but managed to make it out
of the round.
Conceicao Sousa hurt Adame Chio again with another whipping
left hook in the sixth and a straight right hand appeared to
hurt him again early in the seventh.
To his credit, the game Adame Chio, who was having his first
fight outside his Mexican homeland, wobbled Conceicao Sousa
with an overhand right of his own a minute later to cap an
action-packed seventh round.
The ringside physician took a long look at Adame Chio’s
bleeding right eye early in round eight, and another strong
left hook the body deposited him back on the canvas for
another count.
This time, Conceicao Sousa didn’t let his man off the hook,
as he battered Adame Chio with both hands until Referee Ray
Corona waved the fight over at 1:46.
In the second and final matchup of the “Future Stars” series
portion of the card, hometown junior-welterweight product
Daniel Morales, 10-0 (6 KOs), kept his unbeaten record
intact with a second-round knockout over Lorenzo Vazquez
Avalos, 4-2 (4 KOs), of Fontana, California.
After getting the better of the action in an uneventful
opening round, a clubbing overhand right dropped a badly
hurt Avalos early in round two. Morales’ follow-up brought a
merciful end to the fight, as a strong right to the pit of
the stomach dropped the Mexican for a second time. Referee
Jonathan Romero waved it off at :59 of round two.
In the televised opener, Top Rank’s 18-year-old
junior-lightweight prospect Julian “El Naturel” Montalvo,
8-0 (6 KOs), of Las Vegas, stayed undefeated with a
fifth-round stoppage of Anthony Cruz Herrera of Eugene,
Oregon, now 4-2.
The game Oregonian Herrera came out looking to mix it up,
but was bleeding from the nose by round two, as Montalvo’s
skill and power advantages, in addition to a focused body
attack, began to accumulate.
Red-faced and bleeding, Herrera was checked by the ringside
physician before round five, and then shortly into the
round, his corner indicated they’d like to rescue their man
from unnecessary punishment.
Referee Chris Leben waved it off at :59 of the fifth.
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