THERE is no question about Emanuel Navarrete being a fine fighter. His record speaks for itself.
For one, he is the world super bantamweight champion.
For another, he had a 30-1, win-loss record before he destroyed a hapless Jeo Santisima on Sunday for the Mexican’s 27th knockout win in 31 victories.
For Santisima to have lasted 11 rounds was his only shining moment against Navarrete.
I say that with a tinge of sadness in my heart.
The Masbate-born Santisima was a sorry spectacle from Round 1 up to when referee Russell Mora stopped Navarrete from inflicting more harm on our poor Jeo at the 2:11 mark of that fateful penultimate round.
At first, I couldn’t believe what was happening.
I’ve seen Santisima’s previous fights.
He was devastating with his power-packed combination punches.
He was hard to hit.
And, most of all, he was as ferocious as a tiger when unleashing his machine-gun shots.
But on this day in Sin City that is Las Vegas, Nevada, he made the mortal sin a fighter must never commit—with impunity even: Not throwing killer punches practically the entire fight.
Sadly, Santisima allowed Navarrete to pummel him with shots at will.
It was forgivable for Santisima to test the waters in the first two rounds by being gun-shy in the first six minutes of the fight scheduled for 12 rounds.
But when Santisima continued that stance from Round 3 onwards, I knew he was doomed.
For Chrissakes, Santisima climbed the ring not to win but to lose, and to get hit and not to hit.
For practically 10 rounds, Navarrete transformed him into a virtual punching bag as Santisima—susmaryosep!—never even tried to mix it up even just once.
In short, he wasted not only his time staying in the roped arena but, cruelly, that golden opportunity to realize his dream of becoming a world champion.
In boxing, it is hardest to clinch a world title shot—that’s what Santisima threw out the window. Just like that.
Up to now, I’m still baffled why Santisima fought a scared fight.
Santisima’s record is awesome to begin with: Nineteen wins in 21 fights—his two losses, both on points, the result of recklessness. Only three of his 19 victims survived his knockout power.
Did Navarrete, 25, hypnotize him into submission?
But through it all, I would still pray and hope that Santisima could recover from this loss and learn his lessons well. He is only 22. There is so much time left for him to bounce back.
THAT’S IT Philippine Airlines must really be bleeding that bad so that we fully understand its painful move to scrap the PAL Media Golf tournament on March 2 and 3 in Bacolod as part of the company’s cost-cutting measures. It is just a side event anyways—salimpusa. What’s truly of consequence are the PAL Seniors and PAL Men’s Championships pushing through as scheduled from February 26 to March 7. No whining, please. What’s one year ditched between friends? Cheers, Cielo and Josen!