Former champion and San Antonio native Mario “El Azteca” Barrios snapped his two-game losing streak with a crisp, rejuvenating performance against Jovanie Santiago in Saturday’s co-feature of O’Shaquie Foster vs. Rey Vargas, which took place in San Antonio, Texas.
Barrios dropped Santiago in the eighth round with a left to the body and followed up, prompting referee Mark Calo-Oy, at the request of Santiago’s corner, to stop the fight at 1:42 of the eighth of their heavyweight bout. welterweight scheduled for 10 rounds. Barrios led 70-63 on all three judges’ scorecards at the time of the stoppage.
After Santiago (14-3-1, 10 KOs) hit the canvas for the fourth time in his career with a body shot, Barrios, who is back under trainer Bob Santos, followed with a straight right hand, which sent Santiago’s head back, causing his corner to intervene.
After losing his last two fights to top talent Gervonta Davis and Keith Thurman, Barrios (27-2, 18 KOs) had his way with Santiago, who was also coming off back-to-back losses to Adrien Broner and Gary Antuanne Russell.
CompuBox statistics backed up Barrios’ dominance. The 27-year-old landed 90 more punches than the fearless Santiago, who actually outboxed Barrios by a single punch. Barrios landed 39 more jabs, 51 more power shots and looked super charged throughout the fight, buoyed by his hometown crowd and his own desire to get back in the win column.
He hurt Santiago with a right hand a minute into the sixth round, causing Santiago to briefly fall against the ropes. Barrios stunned Santiago again with a left to the body and head moments later, when Santiago looked battered, his right eye badly swollen. Barrios landed a left hook to end the sixth as Santiago somehow stayed on his feet.
“It feels amazing,” Barrios said afterwards. “It took me a while to get into that rhythm, to get into that rhythm. I felt great. I wouldn’t say it was different [esta noche], but definitely with a bigger arsenal. I am very grateful to have Bob [Santos] in my corner and my sister. It had to be just as physical. That’s another thing we’ve been working on in the gym. I knew Santiago was coming with that. And he took the fight in my backyard. That says a lot about him. He is a great warrior, I take my hat off to him”.
“I felt that it was collapsing little by little. I just had to be patient. My right counterhand is something we’ve been working on at the gym in Las Vegas. I feel like I’m definitely up there with the elite [del peso welter]. I still have something to prove. I promised my city a world title, I got it in 2019 and I’ll do it again.”
Trailing on two of the judges’ scorecards, Cuban heavyweight Lenier Peró stunned Ukrainian Viktor Faust with a hard right to the body followed by a left that left Faust defenseless and on his feet in the eighth round. Peró lunged at Faust and landed several more unanswered punches, prompting referee Rafael Ramos to stop the heavyweight bout at 2:28 of the eighth round of the scheduled 10-round bout to hand Faust his first loss of his career while Peró remained undefeated.
It was a surprising turn of events, as Faust was controlling the action with his long jab and hard, hard right right until the final moments. Faust, who outscored his opponent 389-183 in total punches, according to CompuBox, hurt Peró with a left sweep to end the third round that stunned Peró and made him dance a bit in the corner with his legs, earlier than saved the bell
While soaking up the heavier blows, Peró stayed committed to Faust’s body, landing 51 body shots throughout the fight, even as he wrestled with his back foot and Faust continually advanced on him.
It all came to a head in the eighth round when Peró caught Faust with a right to the body and a left to the head that hurt him so badly that he stopped fighting and turned his back on his opponent.
“After the sixth round, my ribs hurt, but I decided to continue the fight,” Faust said. “The pain increased and it did not allow me to compete to my full potential.
“I understood that during the fight I was winning and controlling the fight, but after missing a punch in the eighth round, the pain was so unbearable that I couldn’t move anymore. As a result, I won on points, but the injury gave my opponent the victory!”
Peró, who faced Oleksander Usyk and has multiple wins over compatriot Frank Sánchez in the amateurs, finished off Faust to improve to 9-0 with 5 KOs as Faust fell to 11-1 with 7 KOs. Faust has now lost to the two Peró brothers, as Faust was also beaten by his younger brother Dainier in the amateurs.
“It was a very difficult fight,” Peró said in the ring afterwards. “He’s a great fighter so I started to build momentum and started hitting him and then we finally pulled through in the final round. Since the first round, I was trying to find his liver, trying to go to his body. His punches weren’t that powerful, so I kept working and then found the final blow. This is professional boxing, and you can’t turn your back on anyone. You can’t turn your back, and I didn’t and I took advantage.
“I’m setting my sights on England, actually. Let’s see if the British would like to come fight in America. I would welcome them with open arms. I’m talking about Tyson Fury, Dubois… bring them on!”
In the main event of the broadcast show, former champion Claudio Marrero of the Dominican Republic recorded three knockdowns against Gonzalo Fuenzalida of Las Vegas, all with body shots in the third, fourth and fifth rounds, forcing referee Jon Schorle to stop his lightweight fight in 43 seconds in the fifth round of their scheduled eight-round bout. Marrero improved to 27-5 with 19 KOs, while Fuenzalida dropped to 12-2 with 3 KOs.
In other action, unbeaten Filipino Olympic bronze medalist Eumir Marcial, who is promoted by Manny Paquiao’s promotional company, dropped veteran Ricardo Villalba twice in their middleweight bout, prompting referee Mark Calo-Oy stopped the action 48 seconds into the second round when Marcial increased his record to 3-0 with 2 KOs, while Villalba dropped to 20-8-1 in their scheduled eight-round bout.
23-year-old 6-foot-5 Cuban heavyweight Dainier Peró, younger brother of undefeated Lenier Peró, showcased his punching power and footwork against the tough Daniel Zavala in another streaming bout, punishing Zavala in four rounds and winning a dominant decision. by scores of 40-36, 40-36 and 40-35. Peró went to 3-0 with 2 KOs, while Zavala of Del Rio, Texas fell to 2-2-2.
17-year-old prospect David Whitmire of Washington, DC opened the broadcast show and his professional fashion career, dropping Keith Foreman of Harlingen, Texas twice with left hooks, causing the 154-pound fight to be called off. in 2:10 of the first round in a successful pro debut. Foreman fell to 0-1, 1 NC.
