In his fifth fight in nearly nine months, junior featherweight titleholder Emanuel Navarrete appeared sluggish at times against Jeo Santisima on the Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury II card at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. But the 25-year-old Mexican outworked the Filipino challenger and eventually stopped him in the 11th round of with a barrage of unanswered combinations.
Navarrete, one of the more active titleholders in the sport, started out slow and seemed to grow fatigued in the middle rounds, but he laid down a considerable beating of Santisima. Navarrete had Santisima hurt in Round 5, but took the next round off. There also appeared to be an issue with Navarette’s right hand, which he explained afterward was the result of a slight injury.
“I hurt him weirdly with my right hand and hurt my thumb but I had to plough through it,” Navarrete (31-1, 27 KOs) said.
Navarrete turned it up in Round 10, tagging Santisima (19-3, 16 KOs) with strafing punches from pillar to post. Referee Russell Mora stopped the bout at 2:27 of Round 11.
There have been whispers that Navarrete may look to move up to the featherweight division for his next fight.
Also on the undercard, junior middleweight Sebastian Fundora may be a physical freak of nature, but he is still clearly very much a a work progress. The six-foot-six prospect was tested by Aussie Daniel Lewis in a scheduled 10-rounder en route to a unanimous decision win.
Scores were 97-93, 98-92, and 99-91.
Lewis was outmatched from the start, but he succeeded in making the fight a phonebooth affair, thus partially negating Fundora’s remarkable height. Lewis landed overhand rights and left hooks that had Fundora bleeding from the nose in Round 2.
“I don’t want to make excuses, but I had the flu,” Fundora (14-0-1, 9 KOs) said afterward. “That’s why my nose bled.”
Still, it was Fundora who controlled the action and landed the harder shots. He consistently landed the right uppercut as Lewis (6-1, 4 KOs) tried to bulldoze his way inside. By the mid rounds, a purple mouse was visible under his right eye.
In a mild upset, Javier Molina (22-2, 9 KOs) outpointed Amir Imam (21-3, 18 KOs) over eight rounds in a junior welterweight bout.
Scores were 79-73, 78-74, and 78-74.
It was a closely contest bout, but Molina, who fought primarily off the backfoot, was a bit craftier. Imam showed little creativity on offense as he simply walked towards Molina trying to land his right hand.
For nearly seven rounds, welterweight Subriel Matias had his way with Petros Ananyan, landing one thudding power shots after another. A stoppage seemed imminent. But in the waning moments of Round 7, Ananyan, bruised and bloodied, connected on four consecutive overhand rights and then a left hook that sent Matias reeling into the ropes. Referee Robert Byrd issued a standing eight count, and just like that, the scheduled 10-rounder instantly turned. Matias never truly recovered, as Ananyan, the decided underdog, pushed the pace en route to a unanimous decision upset.
Judges scored it 96-93, 95-94, and 95-94, all for Ananyan (15-2-2, 7 KOs).
This was just the third bout for Matias (15-1, 15 KOs) since his tragic bout against the late Maxim Dadashev, who passed from ring injuries sustained during that fight.