Raiko Santana pulls off upset win in overtime round, sends Lorenzo Simpson to second loss

Super middleweight Raiko Santana can appreciate Overtime Boxing’s overtime rules after winning a decision.

Santana defeated former rookie standout Lorenzo Simpson by split decision on Friday night at the Overtime Elite Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. The first scorecards were 78-74 for Simpson, while the other two judges scored the match 76-76.

Overtime Boxing has implemented a rule where if the fight ends in a draw, a bonus round takes place to determine the winner. Santana won the extra round on two judges’ cards to improve to 11-4, 6 by knockout.

Most of the matches throughout this fight were fought in the center of the ring, with both sides fighting hard in the pocket. Southpaw Lorenzo was more economical with his punches, but Santana was busy, throwing and landing punches and combinations to Lorenzo’s head and body.

Two judges may have been swayed by the high punch landing from Santana during the fight, but Simpson was the more accurate puncher. The final punch stat numbers went in Simpson’s favor, as he threw 391 punches, landing 139 of them (35.5 percent).

Santana landed 79 of 462 punches (17.1 percent).

Santana, 31, who is originally from Pinar del Rio, Cuba and now lives in El Paso, Texas, previously fought on November 25, losing a decision to undefeated Daniel Blancas. Santana has won three of his last four fights.

Simpson, who lives in Baltimore, Maryland, falls to 14-2, 8 KOs. He lost his first professional loss on August 25, by majority decision to Vladimir Hernandez.

The Simpson-Santana fight was promoted to priority status after the Elijah Pierce-Jose Sanmartin fight was postponed. Pierce, ranked number 9 by The Ring at 122 pounds, withdrew from the fight, reportedly due to a cold.

In the semi-feature, junior lightweight Maliek Montgomery took down Cesar Juarez once en route to a unanimous decision win. Scores were 80-71, 80-71, and 79-73 for Montgomery, who improved to 18-0, 16 KO.

Juarez was game, choosing to stay in the pocket and mix up his attacks, but the tall Montgomery threw and landed plenty of punches and combinations to the head and body.

Towards the end of the eighth round, a left hook to the head dropped Juarez to the canvas. Juarez did not appear hurt by the punch, and was ready to engage as the action continued, but the bell rang to end the fight.

Montgomery was originally scheduled to fight on May 3, but that fight with Eridson Garcia fell through. Owned by Trifon Petrov.

Juarez, who lives in Mexico City, falls to 29-16, 22 KOs. The 32-year-old has lost six of his last eight.

In a fight to eliminate the WBC world title, Tiara Brown broke through and defeated Gabriela Bouvier by decision. All three judges scored Brown 100-90, making him 17-0, 11 KO.

Bouvier started trading early in the fight, but the 36-year-old Brown was the aggressor throughout the fight, telling and taking Bouvier to the ground behind a consistent jab.

The 32-year-old Bouvier, who lives in Maldonado, Uruguay, falls to 19-13-1, 4 KOs.

In light heavyweight action, Atlanta’s Casey Dixon dropped Gerald McClellan, Jr. (6-2, 4 KOs) of Milwaukee once in the first round to win by unanimous decision. The scores were 39-36, 39-36, and 38-37 for Dixon, who improved to 5-0 1 No Contest, 4 KOs.

In the first phase of OTX 8: The Hunt Continues card, super middleweight Donte Layne of Elmont, NY improved to 3-0, 3 KO, stopping Montrel James (2-11) of St. Louis, Mo. at 2:52 of the opening round.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has handled boxing in Southern California and internationally since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. They can be reached at [email protected]

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