Casamayor Decisions Santa Cruz

In a night of bad decisions, Joel Casamayor (35-3-1, 21 KOs) won a split decision over Jose Armando Santa Cruz (25-3, 14 KOs) last night at Madison Square Garden. Casamayor, 36, was making his first appearance since defeating Diego Corrales in October 2006, and it showed, as Casamayor appeared very rusty and slow compared to his previous form. Casamayor was shockingly knocked down in the first round, however, the it appeared to have been a flash knockdown rather than a case of him being hurt.

None the less, Santa Cruz, the challenger, preceded to dominate the remainder of the bout, badly out-landing Casamayor, who had no answer to the rain of blows that Santa Cruz had coming at him in every round. Mainly, Casamayor would resort to pot-shotting or constant clinching, as he attempted to slow the fight to a crawl, perhaps because he knew that he couldn’t keep up with the pace the younger Santa Cruz.

To be sure, Santa Cruz, 27, didn’t give Casamayor, 36, much of a break, as he continued to tag him with rain of blows, hurting him in the 7th and 9th rounds with heavy shots. is dream. The final judges’ scores were 114-113, 114-113 and 113-114.