By Dave Lahr: Alesia Graf (21-1, 9 KOs) successfully defended her WIBF Women’s International Boxing Federation super flyweight title and Global Union Female super flyweight title on Saturday night with a 5th round stoppage of Brazilian Rosillette Dos Santos (10-3, 7 KOs) at the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle, in Stuttgart, Baden-Wurttember, Germany. Graff, 27, originally from Belarus and now living and fighting out of Germany, staggered Santos with two right hands in the 5th and then finished her off with a sweeping left hook to the head, prompting for referee Andre Van Grootenbruel to step in and halt the fight at 1:32 of the 5th round. Graf totally dominated virtually every minute of the fight, blooding Santos nose and pounding her constantly with jabs and a large amount of combinations to the head.
Though Santos was only giving up two inches in height, her arms were considerably shorter than Graf’s and her hand-speed was also considerably lesser than Grafs. With that much of a handicap in the fight, Santos’ only hope was for her to score with big shots. Unfortunately for her, that was a department in which Graf was also superior, having considerably more power than her Brazilian opponent. Graf used her long jabs to pound away at Santos in the first round, steering her around the ring like a mini bull whichever way she pleased. Santos was forced to eat a lot of shots as she attempted to come forward and land her own shots, but once she was in range, she was limited to one and out with Graff moving quickly out of range again. Near the end of the round, Graf began connecting with big combinations to the head of Santos, snapping her head back each time the punches landed.
In the second round, Graff landed a ton of jabs to the head of Santos, giving her a bloody nose in the process. It was like target practice for Graf as she teed off with nice combinations to the head of Santos, who stubbornly kept coming forward despite the rain of punishment greeting her every step. Graf landed some particularly nasty combinations late in the round, snapping Santos head back. It looked bad for her because she clearly couldn’t continue to take this kind of punishment before the fight was stopped, whether by the referee or her going down from all the shots she was taking from Graff.
In the third round, Santos could only muster up a couple of shots landed, whereas Graf continued to rain a constant downpour of punches to the head of Santos. Not having lost a match in five years, Santos wasn’t one to give up easy and it appeared that Graf would have to do something drastic if she wanted to take her out because Santos was very determined despite the beating she was taking.
In the 4th round, Santos’ nose began bleeding even more, whipping blood into the audience when she was hit hard, which as it turns out, was quite often in the round. Graf, perhaps getting instructions from her trainer to step it up, began landing even more head shots. The last minute of the round was one uninterrupted onslaught by Graf, who hit Santos with everything by the kitchen sink while trying to take her out of there.
In the 5th round, Santos valiantly attempted to fight back, walking through a hail of punches to land one or her own. As she was coming forward, Santos was hit by a big right hand from Graf, staggering Santos for a second. Graf immediately followed up with another big right hand followed by a huge left hook that snapped Santos’ head sideways in a whiplash reaction. The referee had seen enough and stepped in and stopped the bout. For some reason, Santos was very upset with the stoppage and began to complain loudly to Graf, who had walked up to her to console her. Graf then offered to continue to fighting, and even held up her guard to Santos, motioning for her to come forward and continue fighting. Santos, her face covered with blood, appeared to want nothing of it and didn’t take Graf up on her offer.