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Oscar Valdez-Miguel Marriaga undercard results

Fighters Network
22
Apr

CARSON, California – With the California sun beating down on the ring at the Stub Hub Center, the non pay-per-view undercard of Top Rank show was underway Saturday evening, and shown live on TopRank.TV.

Helping warm up the ring before the main fights, a welterweight match-up between two action fighters went down, and while it delivered on it’s promise, it was the Mexican, Mahonri Montes, who beat Francisco “Chia” Santana via split decision with scores of 95-94 and 96-93 in his favor. Santana received a score of 97-92.

Fighting out of Los Mochis, Montes (31-6-1, 20 KOs) got off to a rocky start in the opening rounds but forced Santana to fight off his back foot starting the third. Santana, 30, seemed unnerved about fighting backward, but the right hands of Montes snuck up on him often. In the fifth round, one of those shots sent Santana to the canvas and “Chia” had lost all momentum at that point. Montes, 27, showed great conditioning as he continued to press forward and belt Sanatana to the body and head, but the Santa Barbara native wasn’t going to roll over and quit.

Santana (24-6-1, 12 KOs) got himself back in the fight with sheer determination in the final two rounds. He threw more when on the inside and, by keeping it there, he was able to overwhelm Montes at times with punch volume. The final 30 seconds of the fight had the Stub Hub Center on it’s feet as they went toe-to-toe, and the split-decision wasn’t necessarily a surprise considering the amount of punches both men threw and landed. Montes got the nod, and looking at the scores, had he not scored the knockdown in the fifth round, this fight would’ve been a draw.



Maxim Dadashev delivered a highlight reel knockout of Bilal Mahasin in the third round to remain undefeated. The junior welterweight contest was scheduled for eight rounds.

The Russian was already in control of the fight, but after feinting a right hand and following with a left, Dadashev connected perfectly on the chin of Mahasin. The shot instantly dropped the San Leandro, California native, and he was counted out while laying there motionless. Dadashev (7-0, 6 KOs) was exuberant after the knockout knowing he had just created a memorable kayo. Mahasin (9-4-1, 1 KO) wasn’t knocked unconscious and was okay after taking his time getting to his feet.

Alexander Besputin, a Russian welterweight prospect out of Oxnard, California, defeated Breidis Prescott via unanimous decision in his first step-up fight. All three judges ringside scored it 80-71.

With both fighters patient early on, Besputin (7-0, 5 KOs) started to impose his left hand in the third round. It had Prescott on the canvas at the tail end of it, but referee Rudy Barragan ruled it a slip officially. Working off his jab the whole fight, Prescott (30-10, 20 KOs) had seemingly stunned Besputin with a left of his own just before that moment, but that would be his only highlight. Besputin, 25, continued to press forward as the rounds let on, and eventually scored a knockdown in the seventh round after Prescott’s glove touched the canvas in reaction to a left hand.

In the opening bout of the Top Rank card, Fazliddin “Fayzi” Gaibnazarov overcame an early scare in his professional debut to knock out Victor Vazquez in the second round.

“I was nervous,” admitted the 2016 Olympic Gold Medalist from Uzbekistan. Just a few seconds into his pro career, a slight head butt and a right hand from his Puerto Rican counterpart sent him to the canvas for the first time in his life. He looked to his corner with shock, but by the end of the round, the southpaw found his left hand often. In the second, that left found the chin of Vazquez (7-3, 3KOs) and he fell to the canvas hard. Vazquez got up, but referee Edward Hernandez Sr. didn’t see him fit to continue.

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