Josesito Lopez dominates Francisco Santana in round 10 TKO

Welterweights Josesito Lopez and Francisco Santana put on a show on the undercard of Errol Spence Jr. vs. Danny Garcia. Lopez took the win. 

FanSided said weeks ago that welterweights Josesito Lopez and Francisco Santana could be a fight of the night contender on the Dec. 5 Errol Spence Jr. vs. Danny Garcia pay-per-view event. However, It didn’t prove competitive as Lopez was in the driver’s seat from start to finish.

Lopez and Santana came into their bout, sharing numerous similarities. They’re about the same height with the same reach, and their records followed a familiar pattern. They both won more than they lost but had eight career losses. Lopez and Santana are also in their mid-30s and needed to win to keep their hopes of a career resurgence alive.

Lopez always showed more potential than Santana. His past wins over Victor Ortiz and John Molina Jr. demonstrated that he’s a legit contender. Santana never accrued that signature win, and it didn’t come against Lopez.

In the first round, Lopez made his mark on the fight early. About midway into the action, Lopez dropped Santana with two hooks to the body. Santana got to his feet and recovered. Lopez tried to press Santana but ate a right cross that staggered him.

Josesito Lopez vs. Francisco Santana was more onesided than anticipated as Lopez controlled the action

Despite Santana mounting a brief comeback in round 1, the fight snowballed out of control as the fight went on. Lopez was the busier, more active boxer, and Santana couldn’t hold him off.

Lopez impressed with his bodywork throughout the fight. Santana kept his right arm low to guard his body, and that’s when Lopez started to connect with hooks to Santana’s head.

By round 9, Santana was spent. Lopez’s punches accumulated, and Santana took a knee. He finished the round in rough shape.

It didn’t take long into round 10 before Lopez caught Santana with a hook that put him on the canvas for the third time of the night. Santana’s durability allowed him to rise up and briefly fight on, but the referee had to stop the contest after another Lopez barrage.

It goes in the books as a round 10 TKO for Lopez. At 36 years old, Lopez has back to back KOs that allow his title dreams to live on.