By Jason Kim: In somewhat of a shocker, two-division champion Daniel Santos (32-3-1, 23 KOs) pulled off an upset on Friday night when he stopped WBA light middleweight champion Joachim Alcine (30-1, 19 KOs) in the 6th round of a scheduled 12-round bout at the Uniprix Stadium, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Santos, 32, rather easily controlled most of the fight, knocked Alcine down right a right-left combination in the 6th round, sending Alcine, 32, down flat on his back on the canvas. He tried to get up, but collapsed back onto the canvas before he could make it to his feet. Referee Marlon Wright then waived off the fight at 2:10 of the 6th round.
Although some people saw this as a mild upset, it perhaps was meant to be for Alcine had fought much less impressive competition in his nine-year boxing career as Santos, and had few of the same credentials as the former 1996 Olympian Bronze medalist to compare with. Indeed, Alcine didn’t match up well with Santos coming into the fight, neither having fought the same competition nor come close to achieving what Santos, a two-division champion, has accomplished in his long 12-year career.
Alcine came out looking rather timid in the first round, standing around and poising a lot and playing a peek a boo game with Santos. Not wanting to waste time playing games, the southpaw Santos began drilling Alcine with jabs to the head. Having seen Alcine fight on several occasions, I had expected his cautious approach in the first few rounds of the fight, which is natural for him, but in this case he was really acting as if he was petrified of Santos for some reason and not letting his hands go.
Santos, though, wasn’t the least bit afraid of the light-hitting Alcine, and he made the most of his opportunities in the first round by hitting Alcine often with jabs to the head and straight left hands, catching Alcine frequently as he was tip-toeing in side in his typical gingerly style of fighting. Near the end of the round, Santos began bum rushing Alcine and hitting him with hard combinations as he would come running forward.
Nothing changed in the second round, as Alcine looked just as terrified and reluctant to throw punches as he had in the first. Instead of punching, he merely stood like a statue, peeking glimpses of Santos, feigning as if he were going to throw a punch, but throwing nothing at all. Alcine gave new meaning to the term ‘fighting on the back foot’ for he was totally leaning backwards, so much so that he seemed to be trying to hide his head as if expecting an impending blow at any second. This allowed Santos to bomb him with impunity with jabs and left hands without worrying about anything coming back at him.
Alcine fought the exact same way in rounds three and four, still seeming too afraid to let his hands go more than a few times in the round. Alcine landed several shots at the start of the third round, but then completely shut down for the rest of the round as Santos began unloading with his own shots. Near the end of the round, Alcine landed a good right hand that hit Santos at the top of his head.
But, the punch wasn’t nearly enough to win the round, as Alcine was just too inactive to make it a fight. In the 4th round, Alcine fought hard at the start of the round, and was able to hit Santos with some good left hands. Santos, however, came storming back and drove Alcine to the ropes with a volley of left hands to the head. Once he had him on the ropes, Santos began measuring Alcine with his right hand and nailing him with straight lefts over and over again. It looked so easy, almost like Santos was fighting a helpless amateur who was in way over his head.
Alcine came out looking enraged in the 5th round, and furiously attacked Santos as if he had wronged him somehow. It seems that Alcine had taken a tongue lashing in between rounds, and wanted to apply what had been shot his way in terms of advice back at Santos. However, by the end of the round, Alcine’s brief gust of rage had turned into a sweeping retreat as he was backed up and punished for the last minute of the round by Santos’ powerful left hands to the head.
In the 6th round, Alcine was only half-heartedly attacking, looking as if he really didn’t want any more of what Santos was dishing out to him. He kept coming forward, alright, but he had the look of a condemned man as he walked into shot after shot from Santos.
Finally, Alcine made the bad decision of walking into a straight right, followed by a powerful left hand that crashed off Alcine’s face, causing him to fall backwards like a cut tree, hitting the canvas back first. He laid there for a second, looking more dead than alive, then finally he stirred and tried to get up. As he was pushing himself up off the canvas, Alcine collapsed back down to the canvas face first. At this point, referee Marlon Wright shook his head, and stopped the fight at 2:10 of the 6th round.