EDGAR SANTANA W10 (maj.) JOSESITO LOPEZ

What a fight it was in ShoBox’s main event on Friday night as Edgar Santana, down twice in the eighth round and seemingly on the edge of defeat, rallied to punch out a majority but deserved decision over Josesito Lopez.

Dramatic turnarounds such as this are part of boxing’s enduring appeal.

Santana, the naturally bigger man in the junior welter fight, encountered stiff resistance but seemed to be comfortably in charge of the fight by the seventh round. At times he used the jab quite well on the outside, while the New York-Puerto Rican’s superior size and strength were apparent when he backed up Lopez with right hands on top and hooks underneath.

Lopez got off some nice combinations and even looked the better fighter in some rounds, but it seemed that Santana was just too big for him, especially when a left hook to the body seemed to hurt the Riverside, CA boxer in the seventh round.

Then everything changed in the eighth when Lopez's left hook to the body had Santana sinking to one knee. I was wondering if Santana’s hands-down style might put him at risk of getting hit on the chin, so the big shot downstairs took me by surprise — as it did Santana.

Santana was able to pick himself at the count of eight, but when a follow-up body battering had him down again it looked as if the end was nigh. But, no, Santana again got up — and fought Lopez off.

Amazingly, everything changed in the very next round. With his career at stake, the 29-year-old Santana waded right into Lopez with his biggest, hardest-hitting attack of the fight. Now it was Lopez who was in trouble as right hands rocked him sideways, while a left hook to the body almost doubled him over.

That big round had put Santana back in command of the fight, and he finished strongly in the 10th to eke out the win — 94-94, 95-93, 95-93.

It was one of the most exciting reversals of fortune in recent memory. ShoBox analyst Steve Farhood was probably right when, talking afterwards about the first knockdown in round eight, he said: “I really believe that Santana came very close to not getting up by the count of 10.”

Santana found it within him, though, to come back with the two greatest rounds of his life. As ShoBox commentator Nick Charles summed up: “When a guy goes down 10-7 and almost evaporates in a round and comes back and wins it, that is biting down, that is sheer guts, fortitude — the whole package.”

No matter whatever else Santana accomplishes in his career, this back-from-the-brink victory gave fans memories to treasure.