Boxing In Canada: Daniel Santos Ends World Title Reign Of Joachim Alcine In Montreal

It was a big night at the fights last evening at Uniprix Stadium in Montreal but one of the favorite sons of this boxing-mad metropolis went down in defeat as WBA Light Middleweight Champion Joachim Alcine was KO’d in the sixth by cagey longtime former WBO Light Middle/Welterweight Champion Daniel Santos.

The highly-seasoned Puerto Rican southpaw Santos, 32-3-1 (23) had been on the comeback trail since losing his WBO 154 pound belt to Sergiy Dzinziruk in December, 2005, and his eighth round stoppage of former WBA Light Middle and Welter Champ Jose Antonio Rivera last October in that organization’s title eliminator sealed the fate of Alcine.

A native born Haitian fighting out of Montreal since turning pro in 1999, Alcine, 30-1 (19), won the Canadian belt in 2002 before capturing a slew of regional titles and managed to drop the undefeated reigning WBA titlist of the time, Travis Simms, in the sixth round before posting a unanimous decision win at Harbour Yard Arena in Bridgeport, CT a year ago.

Alcine retained his title for the first and only time when he dramatically stopped Panamanian challenger Alfonso “El Huracan” Mosquera in the twelfth and final round at Montreal’s Bell Centre.

Defending his title last night at one of North America’s premier tennis venues, Uniprix Stadium, in front of an audience of over 8,000, Alcine proceeded cautiously with his far more experienced opponent, carefully picking his spots behind a fundamentally sound textbook approach.

Santos was content to sit back and patiently study his rival, until action broke out in the third with Alcine marking up the visitor with a few good right hands. But the champion couldn’t improve upon his work in the fourth and found himself on the receiving end of a shelling from Santos, who found the target with big left hands that drove the local hero onto the back foot.

Alcine right realized that he had to stop the momentum of the former champion and he did just that in the fifth by going after Santos, connecting with good work from both hands that seemed to catch the Puerto Rican veteran off-guard.

The native Haitian forged on in the sixth but was caught with a full-blooded short counter left from Santos that separated Alcine from his senses. Crashing hard to the canvas, Alcine was counted out at 2:10 of the round by referee Marlon Wright, making Santos the new WBA 154 pound Champion.

On the undercard, 32 year old Congo born Memphis, TN resident Alex Bunema, 30-5-2 (16), continued his shocking career revitalization with a brutal sixth round KO of Argentina’s chinny banger Walter Dario Matthysse, 26-4 (25), to retain the WBA Intercontinetal Light Middleweight belt.

Bunema won regional titles at welter and light middle but a fifth career loss in 2005 at the hands of Uganda’s Robert Kamya by majority decision seemingly shelved any hopes the African boxer had of a meaningful future in the sport.

After sitting in the sideline for two years, Bunema came back with two stoppage wins against the lesser experienced Farid Shahid and then veteran Steve Walker, but it was the stunning performance capped off by a tenth round finishing off of highly skilled and well regarded former IBF Champion Roman Karmazin in January that breathed new life into Bunema.

Against Matthysse, Bunema showed amazing stamina as he went at his rival full throttle, despite the South American’s serious punching power, and simply battered the opponent with both hands until Matthysse could no longer continue to defend himself.

Bunema has likely earned himself a shot at the newly minted WBA title of Daniel Santos in the near future.

Also on the bill, promising Las Vegas based Montreal slugger Bermane Stiverne, 15-1 (15), used a 43 pound weight advantage to good effect as he won his third in a row by crushing previously unbeaten Kansas man Brad Gregory, 10-1 (8), in the first at heavyweight.