By Ryan Songalia
With the smoke still clearing from Edgar Santana's shocking upset defeat to Harrison Cuello Wednesday night, Santana's manager Ernesto Dallas reflected on his fighter's inability to solve the southpaw puzzle placed before him.
"Santana was properly prepared," Dallas explains, "but he committed the cardinal mistake in boxing which is backing straight out of an exchange. Backing straight out is dangerous especially when you time it incorrectly, which is what Santana did.
"El Chamaco" fell in three rounds to the unheralded Cuello at The Manhattan Center. Santana seemed lost at times as he struggled to adjust to the elusive southpaw's style. Santana went down in the third, and upon rising at the count of seven, the referee waived off the fight and awarded Cuello the victory. Santana's record now stands at 21-3 (13 KO). Cuello, who experienced a second-round knockout loss to Randall Bailey in his previous fight, moves to 15-5-2 (11 KO).
Dallas stated that Santana had adequate southpaw sparring. "We have fought left handed fighters before. I think it the fact that Cuello was being extra elusive and defensive caused problems not so much the southpaw stance."
"To him the loss was a fluke and he still has his confidence intact." Dallas also added that Santana is at home resting and will follow up with a doctor during the week for precautionary measures.
When asked whether he agreed with the stoppage, Dallas concurred with Referee Pete Santiago's decision.
While most teams would've viewed the outcome of the fight as catastrophic, Dallas remained poised and looked towards the future.
"We are not going to dwell on the loss too much. We don't feel we need to make any major adjustments. Bottom line, he got caught with a good punch which is something that can happen at anytime to anyone in boxing. Boxing is the theater of the unexpected, nothing is ever certain. Unfortunately we were struck with the unexpected."
Any questions or comments? Send them to me at mc_rson@yahoo.com .
