New Contender for Crawford Emerges in a Thrilling Showdown

Giovanni Santillan (32-0, 17 KOs) achieved a stunning knockout victory in the 6th round over Alexis Rocha (23-2, 15 KOs) in a WBO NABO welterweight title bout at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, USA.

This was an upset that exceeded expectations. The fight was a riveting display of skills and punch exchanges. From the very first seconds, both fighters engaged in a back-and-forth battle at a medium range. Santillan and Rocha had sparred with each other previously, so the high level of competition was no surprise. What was unexpected, however, was the dominance displayed by Giovanni, particularly to his opponent.

In the 5th round, after a series of punishing blows from Santillan, Rocha went down twice and struggled to get back on his feet. The fight came to a dramatic conclusion in the 6th round with another knockdown, prompting the referee to halt the contest.

Giovanni Santillan has now positioned himself as the new contender for the WBO title, currently held by Terence Crawford.

Other results from the same evening included:

John Ramirez (13-0, 9 KOs) scored a 4th-round knockout victory over Ronald Batista (15-4, 9 KOs).

Gabriela Fundora (12-0, 5 KOs) secured a 5th-round knockout win over Arelis Mucio (32-4-2, 11 KOs).