BARAOU OUTBOXES SANTILLAN TO WIN MAJORITY DECISION
The fight between Giovani Santillan and Abass Baraou was considered a competitive matchup between world-class contenders from the moment it was announced. And the bout lived up to its billing Friday in Oceanside, California.
Former WBA 154-pound champion Baraou (18-2, 9 KOs) proved his championship pedigree by dictating the pace and edging Santillan (35-2, 18 KOs) by majority decision in a hotly contested 10-round junior middleweight fight at Frontwave Arena to headline a ProBox TV card.
Two judges scored the contest for Baraou, 97-93 and 96-94, while the third had it even, 95-95. One would be hard-pressed to award Santillan five rounds, but Baraou was appropriately awarded the win. Santillan agreed, as he mildly clapped when it was announced that Baraou was the victor.
Baraou connected with 148 of 541 of his shots, while Santillan answered with 92 of 381, according to unofficial punch stats provided by CompuBox.
The bigger and busier Baraou blitzed forward and forced the action for most of the encounter to pile on the points with eye-catching shots to bank the decision victory.
Santillan, a converted southpaw born and raised in nearby San Diego, was presented a showcase slot and gave a solid account of himself but came up short, just like his homecoming and devastating stoppage loss to Brian Norman Jr. for the WBO interim welterweight title in May 2024.
Baraou and Santillan both fought on the same card on January 31 in Puerto Rico but in bouts of different magnitudes. Baraou, a 31-year-old German ranked No. 9 by The Ring at 154 pounds, lost his belt in a title unification clash against Xander Zayas, while Santillan stayed busy with a 10-round unanimous decision win against Courtney Pennington.
Baraou proved from the opening round that his pedigree would be too much for Santillan to handle.
After seemingly sweeping the first four rounds, albeit competitively, Santillan stepped up the offensive attack in the fifth round by smothering Baraou and putting him on his heels with a straight left and a right hook. Baraou, however, wasn't bothered and came back with a series of combinations of his own.
Baraou got back into the driver's seat in the sixth, but barely, and edged the round by being the busier boxer.
Santillan stood in the pocket and started slugging it out in the seventh as Baraou absorbed the bludgeoning and answered with dedicated shots to the body.
While Santillan coach Robert Garcia urged his charge to find a way to win the final rounds, Baraou continued peppering and outworking Santillan to ensure a surprise wouldn't be in store.
Santillan, 31, proved early on that he wouldn't have any problems whenever the pace was pushed, but it was the more physical Baraou who ultimately got the better of the exchanges throughout the fight.
The defeat snapped Santillan's winning streak at three fights following the lone loss of his 14-year career against Norman. Baraou, meanwhile, returned to the win column for the first time in 13 months.
Baraou was elevated from interim to full 154-pound WBA titleholder once former champion Terence Crawford left the division to face Canelo Alvarez last September but lost the title to Zayas. Baraou was awarded interim honors by the WBA for beating Yoenis Tellez in August of last year.
With a win against Santillan, Baraou, who's now tied to Top Rank, should stay in the thick of the mix in one of boxing's deepest divisions and get another meaningful matchup next time out.
