Abass Baraou Returns To Winning Form While Scoring Majority Decision Over Giovani Santillan In Main Event Of ProBoxTV From Frontwave Arena
Tonight at Frontwave Arena in San Diego, former WBA junior-middleweight champion Abass Baraou outworked hometown favorite Giovani Santillan to win a majority 10-round decision and the WBO Intercontinental Super Welterweight Championship in the process.
Fighting in the main event of ProBoxTV’s second “Championship Series” live broadcast, Baraou, 18-2 (9 KOs), of Berlin, Germany, was too big, too strong and applied too much pressure for the slicker but smaller Santillan, now 35-2 (18 KOs), to find a path to victory.
Baraou employed a superior work rate to take the first and second rounds, pushing a hesitant Santillan back repeatedly with effective aggression.
A fighter who thrives on momentum, Santillan briefly found his rhythm in the third and landed some quality shots while finally advancing, only to have Baraou catch him with a sharp right-hand counter and swing the action back to his favor by round’s end.
Baraou continued to force the issue in workmanlike fashion in round four, backing Santillan up and forcing him to the ropes repeatedly with his busier fists and non-stop forward movement.
Southpaw Santillan came alive again in round five, energizing his hometown fans by pinning the bigger Baraou on the ropes for an extended barrage of power punches to the head and body.
In round six, Santillan surrendered the momentum he had built the previous round by allowing Baraou to resume coming forward and pushing him around the ring. Baraou was starting and finishing every exchange.
“El Gallo De Oro” Santillan found offensive success in spurts of two-fisted flurries in round seven, but not often enough to sway the advantage from the relentless Baraou.
A skilled southpaw and former WBO No. 1 welterweight contender, Santillan enjoyed a good round eight by switching to a smooth-boxing approach and forcing Baraou to chase him into the traps he set.
However, for the second time in the fight, Santillan followed up a round he had probably won by taking another three-minute vacation in round nine. By round’s end, Baraou was taunting his listless foe, trying to bait him into mixing it up more often.
Baraou finished the fight by walking down Santillan, taunting him while unleashing the fight’s most extended two-fisted beating on the clearly faded California native.
The scores were 95-95, overruled by scores of 97-93 and 96-94 for Baraou, who returns to the win column in his first fight since losing his 154 lbs title by split decision in a WBO/WBA unification battle against Xander Zayas in late January this year, and preventing Santillan from winning his fourth consecutive fight since losing via TKO to Brian Norman Jnr for the interim WBO welterweight title in May 2024.
“I’m confident everywhere I go, you know? Like if there’s a ring, I’m gonna make it work, and get the win,” said a happy Baraou, post-fight.
“This is my road back to a world championship and I’m ready for all the opportunities I can get… Today was the right first step on the way back to become champion again. One year from now, you’re gonna be calling me a multiple world champion.”
Santillan-Baraou was presented in association with Top Rank.
In the 10-round junior-lightweight co-main event, former IBF featherweight world champion Luis Alberto Lopez enjoyed a successful debut fighting for ProBox Promotions by mercilessly pummeling veteran Daniel Lugo until dropping and stopping him in round three.
WBO No. 6- and IBF No. 13-ranked “Venado” Lopez, 33-3 (20 KOs), of Baja California, Mexico, who had fought a total of just four rounds since losing his IBF title to Angelo Leo in August 2024, looked sharp while outclassing his countryman Lugo, 28-5-1 (19 KOs), of Sonora, Mexico.
A pure puncher, Lopez hurt Lugo with a booming left hook late in round two, but Lugo caught a break when Lopez accidentally hit him with a low blow while trying to finish it.
30 seconds after the action resumed, Lopez landed a legal left hook to the liver that dropped Lugo for a count.
Showing no signs of rust despite his recent inactivity, Lopez pinned Lugo against the ropes immediately in round three and unloaded with vicious power to the head and body until referee Ray Corona saved Lugo from more damage at 1:18 of the third round.
“I was very anxious to return to the ring,” said Lopez after the fight. “I was trying to get a world champion (to face me in this fight), unfortunately, none of them were available. But, hey, I’m happy to be performing here tonight.
“I want to thank all my fans. I know it’s not easy to cross the border. It’s getting very difficult, but I promise you, I will be champion once again.”
In the kind of toe-to-toe battle ProBoxTV has become known for, undefeated junior-lightweight prospect Dominic Valle won an action-packed war against Francois Scarboro Jnr by unanimous 10-round decision.
Scarboro Jnr, now 14-1 (9 KOs), of Cheverly, Maryland, came out firing from the onset and had Valle, 14-0 (7 KOs), of Lutz, Florida, cut over the right eye from a punch before the first round was half over.
Both prospects had their moments in closely fought rounds two and three.
Fighting for the first time outside his home state, the taller Valle used his long jab to keep Scarboro Jnr at bay in the first half of round four. The action picked up significantly in the second half of the fourth, with Scarboro Jnr hurting Valle with a series of right hands against the ropes, only to get hurt by powerful shots from Valle to the body and head a minute later.
The hostilities continued in rounds five and six, as both landed their share of clubbing haymakers during non-stop, tit-for-tat exchanges. Valle may have gotten the better in round five, Scarboro Jnr the better in round six.
Valle rediscovered his jab to control round seven, as he used it to set up strong combinations, while forcing a tiring Scarboro Jnr to miss most of his wild attempts at landing return shots.
Evenly fought rounds eight and nine saw Scarboro Jnr utilizing explosive bursts to land combinations, while Valle continued to pop his jab and land his own combos during the lulls in Scarboro Jnr’s work.
Scarboro Jnr suffered a cut over the right eye in round nine.
The final round saw more of the exciting same, with Scarboro Jnr coming out firing wildly in the first minute, Valle taking advantage of his winded foe in the second minute and then more superb back and forth warfare to end the compelling fight.
In the end, the judges unanimously favored Valle’s more skillful approach by scores of 96-94, and two surprisingly wide tallies 98-92 and 98-92.
In the opening bout of the “Championship Series,” members only, portion of the card, middleweight Hebert Conceicao Sousa scored an entertaining eighth-round TKO over Jose De Jesus Adame Chio.
Standing 6-foot-1, the WBO No. 9-ranked (at super middleweight) Conceicao Sousa, 12-0 (6 KOs), of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, enjoyed a big advantage in size over the 5-foot-5 Adame Chio, now 15-1-1 (7 KOs), of Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico.
However, in the first four rounds, Adame Chio’s forward movement and constant aggression was surprisingly effective against 2020 Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Conceicao Sousa, who appeared to be reluctant to move forward and control the ring center, instead content to fire single counter punches in spots.
With the unheralded 27-year-old Adame Chio looking to be possibly taking over the momentum of the fight from the still bafflingly listless Conceicao Sousa, the 28-year-old Brazilian unexpectedly fired a Mexican liver shot and left hook that wobbled Adame Chio midway through round five.
Adame Chio was sent down from the suddenly energized Conceicao Sousa’s follow-up volleys. He rose still wobbly and bleeding from the right eye but managed to make it out of the round.
Conceicao Sousa hurt Adame Chio again with another whipping left hook in the sixth and a straight right hand appeared to hurt him again early in the seventh.
To his credit, the game Adame Chio, who was having his first fight outside his Mexican homeland, wobbled Conceicao Sousa with an overhand right of his own a minute later to cap an action-packed seventh round.
The ringside physician took a long look at Adame Chio’s bleeding right eye early in round eight, and another strong left hook the body deposited him back on the canvas for another count.
This time, Conceicao Sousa didn’t let his man off the hook, as he battered Adame Chio with both hands until Referee Ray Corona waved the fight over at 1:46.
In the second and final matchup of the “Future Stars” series portion of the card, hometown junior-welterweight product Daniel Morales, 10-0 (6 KOs), kept his unbeaten record intact with a second-round knockout over Lorenzo Vazquez Avalos, 4-2 (4 KOs), of Fontana, California.
After getting the better of the action in an uneventful opening round, a clubbing overhand right dropped a badly hurt Avalos early in round two. Morales’ follow-up brought a merciful end to the fight, as a strong right to the pit of the stomach dropped the Mexican for a second time. Referee Jonathan Romero waved it off at :59 of round two.
In the televised opener, Top Rank’s 18-year-old junior-lightweight prospect Julian “El Naturel” Montalvo, 8-0 (6 KOs), of Las Vegas, stayed undefeated with a fifth-round stoppage of Anthony Cruz Herrera of Eugene, Oregon, now 4-2.
The game Oregonian Herrera came out looking to mix it up, but was bleeding from the nose by round two, as Montalvo’s skill and power advantages, in addition to a focused body attack, began to accumulate.
Red-faced and bleeding, Herrera was checked by the ringside physician before round five, and then shortly into the round, his corner indicated they’d like to rescue their man from unnecessary punishment.
Referee Chris Leben waved it off at :59 of the fifth.
