Santos Outscores Barnoza At Foxwoods

By Stephen Tobey: MASHANTUCKET, Conn. – There are bigger heavyweights than Alexis Santos. He faced one of them on Saturday.

The reigning New England heavyweight champion from Lawrence, Mass. set a fast pace and kept it up for most of the fight, defending his title with an eight-round unanimous decision over Jesse Barnoza of Hyannis, Mass. at Foxwoods Resort Casino.

Julie Lederman scored the fight 79-73, while Peter Hary and Robert Paolino scored it 78-74.

Santos (17-1, 14 knockouts) weighed 225 pounds to Barboza’s 251. Barboza dropped to 11-3-1 (7).

“I have an old school heavyweight boxing style,” Santos said. “There are guys who have a bigger stature but I think I’m just as strong as anybody.”

In the first, Santos first got Barboza’s attention with three straight left hooks, forcing Barboza to cover up. Santos landed most of the better shots in the round, though Barobza tagged him with an overhand right that forced him to take a step back in the final minute of the round.

Though he didn’t fight every round at the same pace, Santos was the busier fighter and his punches had a greater effect than Barboza’s. There were no knockdowns, but Santos backed up the heavier fighter and forced him to double over at times. When that happened, Santos tagged him with uppercuts.

The scheduled main event, an IBF junior featherweight world title eliminator between Luis Rosa and Ryosuke Iwasa was cancelled when Rosa did not make weight.

Courtney Pennington of Brooklyn, N.Y. stopped Boyd Melson of White Plains, N.Y. in the seventh round of a scheduled eight at super middleweight. Pennington dropped Melson with a body shot in the seventh and referee Michael Ortega stopped the fight at 2:40. Pennington also knocked down Melson in the third.Pennington is now 9-3-1 (5). Melson, who retired, dropped to 14-2-1 (3). It was Melson’s first fight in 18 months. Melson, who donated his purse to raise awareness of heroin addiction in Staten Island, N.Y. is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy. He announced after the fight that he will be running for Congress in 2018.

Radzhab Butaev of Los Angeles won the vacant North American Boxing Federation junior middleweight title with an eight-round unanimous decision over Gabor Gorbies of Budpest, Hungary. All three judges scored it 80-72. Butaev is now 4-0 (3); Gorbies is 8-4-1 (4).

Welterweight Mykquan Williams of East Hartford, Conn. won a four-round unanimous decision against Jimmy Rosario of Puetro Rico. Peter Hary and Robert Paolino scored it 40-36. Richard Flaherty scored it 39-37. Williams is 5-0 (3); Rosario is 2-4 (1).

Noel Murphy, a native of Ireland who now lives in Woodlawn, N.Y. won a six-round unanimous decision over Mohamed Allam of Holyoke, Mass. at welterweight. All three judges scored it 60-53 for Murphy (7-0 (2)’ Allam dropped to 3-2 (1).

Middleweight Christopher Davis-Fogg from Framingham, Mass. out-pointed Quincy Brown of Millbrook, Ala. in four rounds. All three judges scored it 39-37. Davis-Fogg is now 2-0 (1); Brown is 1-4.

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November 15, 2016