Gold turns into stone for Santillan

What could have been a golden opportunity turned into stone for Rev Santillan.

The Cebu-honed Ilongo ring giant blew his chances to fight for a US$200,000 payday following his sixth round TKO loss to Japanese Motoki Sasaki last Saturday night at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan.

It was a double whammy for Santillan as the stunning defeat also cost him his Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) welterweight belt.

Santillan’s manager Rex “Wakee” Salud told philboxing.com that with the loss, Santillan will miss the opportunity of fighting in a mammoth Bob Arum card where he would have received the biggest ever paycheck in his 13-year pro career.

Salud said Santillan is guaranteed Php9.6 million in his scheduled 12-round rumble against undefeated champion Julio Caesar Chavez Jr. for the WBC Continental Americas light middleweight crown on April 26 in Queretaro, Mexico but the bout has been scrapped after his defeat to Sasaki.

According to the same internet report, Sasaki dominated the entire match. He dropped Santillan with a well-calculated left hook towards the end of the second round. He kept on pressing the attack that baffled the Filipino fighter in rounds three and four.

Sasaki again sent Santillan down at the seat of his pants with a big left shot in round six.

Santillan got up, but Sasaki pinned him against the ropes with a flurry of telling blows that floored the former ALA Stable standout for the third time, prompting  referee Takeshi Shimakawa to halt the carnage with just one second left before the end of that fateful round.

“The sixth and fatal round saw Sasaki, moving to-and-fro, seldom throw punches to be content only to block Santillan’s retaliations. People thought Sasaki was taking a rest because of his too high pace in the previous five rounds,” stated Japanese matchmaker Joe Koizumi in his report on fightnews.com.

“Sasaki, however, suddenly turned loose with a four-punch combo and his vicious left hook dropped the champ with only twenty seconds remaining. Going all out for a kill, Sasaki pinned him to the corner and floored him again with a barrage of punches, when the referee Shimakawa declared a well-received halt as the Filipino had no power left to go on. It was a really stunning upset,” added Koizumi.

Sasaki bettered his record to 29-7-1 now spiked with 19KOs, while Santillan slipped to 24-4-1 dotted with 17KOs.