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In a fight that lived up to its billing, Daniel Santos won a 9 round split decision over Antonio Margarito. An accidental headbutt caused a huge cut over Margarito's right eye, and the fight was stopped at the beginning of the tenth round. The fight went to the scorecards with Santos winning 86-85, 85-86, and 87-84. Santos gets the biggest win of his career, and hopes this win will propel him into a bigger fight in a loaded 154 pound weight class.
This was a surprising fight, because Santos chose to stand and trade with Margarito for most of the fight. Most expected Santos to stay away and box, but Santos seemed to be at his best when exchanging with Margarito. Santos came into the fight having bloated up to 170 pounds, but it didn't seem to affect him. The fight started with another surprise as Margarito switched to the southpaw stance for most of the opening round. It was successful at first, but later in the round Santos caught Margarito with a overhand left which stunned Margarito.
In the second round Margarito switched back to his orthodox stance, and started attacking Santo's body. But, Santos was successful in landing his straight left hand. In round three Margarito continued to attack the body, but late in the round Santos appeared to have stunned Margarito again, this time with a right hand. At this point in the fight, Santos was landing the more accurate punches, especially his left hook. Margarito was busy and landing, but was less accurate and wild.
Margarito started to swing the momentum of the fight in round four with his body attack. In round five Margarito appeared to be softening Santos up with his body shots. Margarito again switched to southpaw and appeared to stun Santos late in the round with a chopping right hand. Round six is the round in which the accidental headbutt occurred. Margarito immediately was bleeding, and it appeared as if the fight might get stopped then. Margarito had another great round, landing a huge overhand right late in the round.
In round seven, Santos started to move around and box more. He seemed less successful in this strategic change. Margarito continued to the body, and appeared to have won another round. Santos bounced back in round eight, landing some good left uppercuts. Round Nine swung back to Margarito, but was a close round. At the start of round ten, the fight was stopped due to Margarito's cut. Santos won a close split decision. I thought Margarito won the fight, 86-85, but it was a close fight and could have gone either way.
For Margarito, it was his first loss in eight years, and might set him back a little bit. He could go back to welterweight, where he is still WBO champion, or stay at 154 pounds and climb back up the ladder. Margarito fell to 30-4 with the loss. Santos improved to 29-1-2, and hopes this win will make him a player in the loaded 154 pound weight class.
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© Copyright / All Rights reserved: Doghouse Boxing 1998-2004
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By Tom Dickey (September 12, 2004) 
