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Hector Garcia and his HG Boxing
put on another spectacular
evening of boxing Saturday night
(August 4) at the Centro de
Convenciones in Mazatlan,
Mexico, as local heroes Arturo
Santos Reyes and Irma Sanchez
won World Boxing Federation
World title fights.
Santos Reyes, 12-2 (4) captured
the vacant WBF World Super
Bantamweight title with a
unanimous decision over US-based
Russian Khabir Suleymanov, 13-3
(6), and Sanchez, 24-5-1 (7),
successfully defended her WBF
Women’s World Flyweight crown by
unanimously outscoring Sharon
Gaines, 11-14-1 (3), from the
USA.
The clash between Santos Reyes
and Suleymanov turned out to be
the fight of the night, as the
two battled it out in an even
and entertaining bout. The
visitor got off to a good start
and won most of the early
rounds, but suffered a cut over
his left eye in the process
which seemed to spur on Santos
Reyes who was best in the middle
rounds.
The final third of the fight was
a war of wills, and both
contestants delivered and
received at a furious pace to
close out the twelve-rounder.
Suleymanov was deducted points
for fouling in rounds six and
ten, but the scores of 116-110
in favor of Santos Reyes from
all three judges seemed much too
wide.
Making the third defense of her
title, Irma “La Guerita” Sanchez
didn’t have an easy time against
Sharon Gaines from Las Vegas.
Tough as they come, Gaines took
everything Sanchez dished out,
and fought back the best she
could. But Sanchez was bigger
and stronger, and was able to
hurt the experienced American a
few times during the course of
the bout.
Sanchez, still only
24-years-old, had her best
moments working on the inside,
while Gaines tried to box from a
distance and keep Sanchez at the
end of her straight punches. It
was a good fight, but Sanchez
was best in almost every round
and was awarded a clear decision
by scores of 99-91, 99-91 and
98-92.
The nine-bout card was aired
live in Mexico by Televisa, and
also saw Filipino John Riel
Casimero retain a Light
Flyweight title against hometown
favorite Pedro Guevara. |
