Jose ‘Tito’ Sanchez makes for action fights and could eventually be a handful for anyone at 122 pounds.

Sanchez scored a unanimous decision over Walter Santibanes in a homecoming Thursday night at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California. Scores were 99-91, 99-91, and 98-92 for Sanchez, who improved to 12-0, 7 knockouts.

The 24-year-old Sanchez, who resides in nearby Cathedral City and is promoted by former multi-division world champion Miguel Cotto, was the aggressor from the opening bell, throwing a high-volume of punches that put Santibanes on the defensive. Sanchez would mix his attack, throwing combinations to either the head or body, or finishing to the body after landing one-two punches to the head.

Sanchez, fighting before a huge crowd of family and supporters, hurt Santibanes in the fourth round. To his credit, Santibanes was more than game, willing to stand and trade with Sanchez in the center of the ring. A solid ebb-and-flow occurred during the middle rounds as Santibanes would connect with his punches combinations and punches, followed by Sanchez landing his own and vice versa.

The action slowed during the second half of the fight. The southpaw Sanchez fought from distance, outboxing Santibanes. Despite swelling around his left eye, Sanchez dictated and controlled the action.

Both fighters had their moments in the center of the ring during the final round. Both connected in high-volume exchanges until the final bell. Afterwards, both embraced and congratulated one another.

The action fight between Sanchez and Santibanes was reflected in the final CompuBox Punch Stat numbers. Sanchez threw 1086 total punches, connecting on 275 of them (25 percent). Santibanes connected on 98 of 557 total punches (18 percent).

In his previous fight on July 12, Sanchez had stopped Carlos Caraballo in the third round. On June 4 of last year, Sanchez defeated Ariel Perez De La Torre by unanimous decision in a clash of unbeaten prospects.

“I want to thank Golden Boy and Miguel Cotto Promotions for giving me the opportunity to fight for the first time in my hometown as the main event,” said Sanchez after the fight. “This was a real war. The crowd’s cheers kept me going through the tough times, and with them having my back, I was able to push through and get the victory. My right middle knuckle was severely injured in the third round, but I made it 10-rounds with the Coachella Valley’s support.”

Santibanes, who resides in Phoenix, Arizona, falls to 12-3 (1 No-Contest, 2 KOs). In his previous fight on June 8, the 33-year-old Santibanes defeated Miguel Flores by decision. Flores was unbeaten at 15-0 upon entering the ring against Santibanes.

In the co-feature of the Golden Boy Fight Night on DAZN card, middleweight prospect Eric Priest stopped former fringe contender Paul Mendez (21-5-2, 11 KOs) of Las Vegas at 2:09 of the opening round.

Eric Priest (right) in action against Paul Mendez – Photo by Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy

Priest improved to 12-0, 8 KOs. The 25-year-old, who recently signed a promotional deal with Golden Boy, is managed by Vishare Mooney and is now trained by Ismael Salas.

In featherweight action, Jorge Chavez (9-0, 7 KOs) of San Diego remained unbeaten after the second round after Nicaragua’s Jerson Ortiz (17-10, 8 KOs) failed to come out of the corner for round three. Ortiz has now lost his last six fights.

Junior welterweight Ricardo Ruvalcaba of Ventura, California defeated Mexico’s Irving Macias (15-4, 10 KOs) by unanimous decision. Scores were 80-72, 80-72 and 78-74 for Ruvalcaba, who improved to 11-0-1, 9 KOs.

The 23-year-old Ruvalcaba is managed by Frank Espinoza and has recently sparred the likes of Ryan Garcia and Elvis Rodriguez.,

In the opening bout of the DAZN stream, junior middleweight Justin Figueroa of Atlantic City, New Jersey stopped Louisiana’s Jerome Clayton (3-3-1, 3 KOs) in the third round. Figueroa dropped Clayton twice in round 2 and twice more in the third round before the fight was stopped at 1:57.

Thursday night marked the final Golden Boy Promotions card of 2023.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached at [email protected]

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