Santiago earns decision win over Donaire for WBC bantamweight title

LAS VEGAS: Mexico’s Alexandro Santiago earned a unanimous 12-round decision over former four-division champion Nonito Donaire on Saturday to claim the vacant World Boxing Council bantamweight world title.

Santiago, 27, claimed the first world title of his career as he denied the 40-year-old “Filipino Flash,” who was aiming to rebound from a brutal second-round knockout loss to Japan’s Naoya Inoue 13 months ago.

Donaire, who has held world titles at flyweight, bantamweight, super-bantamweight and featherweight, kept it close in the early going and rocked Santiago with a left hook in the third round.

But he couldn’t match Santiago’s pace as the fight progressed, with the Mexican landing a barrage of convincing blows in the ninth round and quickly halting Donaire’s momentum when the Philippines fighter came out looking to land a big blow.

One judge scored the bout 115-113 and the other two saw it 116-112 for Santiago, who improved to 28-3 with five drawn and 14 knockouts. Agencies

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