Victor Santillan is the new WBA junior featherweight interim titleholder.
Santillan, a Dominican fighter who resides in Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico, earned a third-round technical knockout of Noel Reyes Cepeda, of La Vega, Dominican Republic, on Saturday at the Coliseo Carlos “Teo” Cruz in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
The time of the stoppage was 1:13.
The tone was set early as Santillan, 30, charged Cepeda in the opening round, prompting Cepeda to shell up and fight selectively. Santillan controlled the center of the ring and dictated the action, targeting Cepeda’s body and foreshadowing the rest of the bout.
Cepeda had a brief moment at the start of the second, throwing wild punches that kept Santillan from pushing forward. But Santillan’s body shots began to add up. Cepeda held Santillan multiple times in the second round to stop the mounting pressure and body attack.
Santillan bullied Cepeda to the ropes, threw a slew of punches – many of which didn’t land – but Cepeda was not engaging and just covering up. The referee stepped in and called a halt to the bout. Upon the stoppage, Cepeda objected out of frustration, despite his lack of punch volume.
Santillan improved to 16-2 (7 KOs), and is on a two-fight knockout streak since losing a unanimous decision to Tenshin Nasukawa in June.
Cepeda, 39, fell to 19-5 (15 KOs), and his winning streak dating back to 2018 is no more.
Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.
