JEO SANTISIMA engaged in war with Uriel ?Yuca? Lopez to emerge victorious via unanimous decision in the 45th iteration of the Pinoy Pride series.
I was only able to catch the replay but it certainly was one of the most action-packed fights on the local scene I have seen in recent memory.
?Santino? came on strong in the first three rounds while Lopez came in throwing hard combinations, and invested a lot on body shots.
Good thing Jeo is young and in robust, hale condition. As early as the third round, he was clearly noticeably wary of those stinging digs to the body as he had his elbows down trying to fully protect his torso and ribs.
Still, Lopez got his licks in. A lesser opponent would definitely have succumbed.
Jeo came back with his own vicious body attack in the middle rounds, and this made for several interesting exchanges.
Santisima landed several hard shots in the 8th, snapping Lopez? head back violently several times, but Lopez proved just as sturdy and robust.
Santisima took the 10th off as he appeared winded, but came back nicely in the 11th, landing some chopping right hands.
The 12th was quite close with Jeo unleashing violent combos early and Lopez closing strong.
The scorecards (117-111, 118-110) were to me a bit lopsided and were not emblematic of the close nature of the proceedings. Honestly, in another arena on a different night, in a different part of this world, the verdict might be different.
Still, it was good to see Santisima weather through the storm and put up a workmanlike Herculean effort on this one.
He will learn a lot more from fights like these where he had to engage in a life-and-death struggle than from easy knockout wins against tomato cans which dangerously lull a fighter into believing in his knockout prowess and thinking every fight is going to be easy.
LAST ROUNDS. Are on my kumpares, Architect Lee Villanueva and Atty. Ferdinand ?Bobong? Pepito who recently celebrated their birthdays. Cheers!
