By Rick Reeno
Earlier tonight in the Chumash Casino in California, undefeated 140 pound prospect Mike Arnaoutis had a real scare when he beat challenger Santa Cruz by a narrow majority decision after twelve rounds. Scores were 114-114, 115-113 and 116-112.
Cruz gave away the first two rounds, but then came out like a new fighter in round three to take the fight to Arnaoutis. A very poor showing by Arnaoutis who was facing a guy coming off a near two year layoff. The crowd booed the decision as Cruz won the crowd over by dictating the action in the bout and making the fight exciting to watch.
On the undercard, undefeated welterweight prospect Shamone Alvarez raised his record to 11-0 with 8Ks when he took out challenger Jose Medina in four rounds. Alvarez had Medina in trouble in round three and finished the job in the fourth round when the ref called a halt to the action to prevent Medina from taking anymore big shots.
The bouts were televised on Showtime's Shobox telecast.
