Santisima lands bout vs American foe in Feb. 2022
Photo caption: Jeo Santisima. | Photo from Zip Sanman Facebook page
CEBU CITY, Philippines—Former world title challenger Jeo “Santino” Santisima of Zip Sanman Promotions finally gets a scheduled bout on February 5, 2022 against American Joey Gonzales in Fresno, California, the United States.
Santisima, the former WBO world super bantamweight title challenger confirmed to CDN Digital that he will end his seven-month layoff with a non-title bout against Gonzales.
The 25-year-old pride of Aroroy, Masbate has been yearning to land a fight after he was replaced from a world title eliminator bout last November against Isaac Dogboe.
The bout was supposedly featured in the undercard of Shawn Porter-Terrence Crawford duel at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, USA.
He was removed from the bout after another contender ranked higher than him allegedly filed a protest to replace him.
“Excited kaayo ko. Nindot kaayo ni nga fight kay akong kontra fighter pud ni siya. Gusto sad gyud ni siya ug sumbagay nga mao pud akong gipangita. Expect gyud nga nindot ni nga duwa,” said Santisima, a former ALA Boxing Gym stalwart.
After he was replaced, Santisima dropped one place in the WBO featherweight division’s latest rankings. He is now ranked No. 8 while Gonzales is ranked No. 5.
Nevertheless, he finally earned a chance to prove himself again on the ring.
If ever he beats Gonzales, it will improve his rankings in the stacked featherweight division and could improve his chances to have a rematch against WBO world featherweight champion Emanuel Navarrete.
Navarrete defeated Santisima via TKO in February 2020 for the WBO world featherweight strap at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Despite the loss, Santisima remained in the top ten of the division with a record of 21 wins (18 knockouts) and three defeats.
He bounced back from his loss against Navarrete by padding two wins against Marjon Piencenaves and Alan Alberca via knockouts.
Meanwhile, Gonzales is also gunning for a comeback after losing to Navarrete for the same world title last October in San Diego, California.
Navarrete won via unanimous decision for his eighth successful title defense.
The 28-year-old Gonzales of Glendora, California sports a record of 24-2 (win-loss) with 14 knockouts. He is a former WBO inter-continental featherwieght champion.
Santisima is currently training in Cebu under the tutelage of Michael Domingo and has been sparring with four-division world champion Donnie Nietes.
/bmjo
READ MORE: Santisima misses opportunity to fight for world title eliminator
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