By Jim Dower: Undefeated Yuri Foreman (28-0, 8 KO’s) beat World Boxing Association light middleweight champion Daniel Santos (32-4-1, 23 KO’s) by a 12-round unanimous decision in a fight that was marred by constant head butts in almost every round on Saturday night at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Foreman, whose last bout against Cornelius Bundrage in June ended early due to a clash of heads, banged heads at a constant rate as he would dive forward head first in many of the rounds. Foreman, 29, hurt Santos in the 4th after crashing into him head first and stunning him. Foreman then threw a right hand as Santos was still reeling from the head butt.

The right hand wasn’t very powerful, but the head looked like it must of really hurt. Foreman knocked Santos down in the 12th. Foreman landed a short left hand and dropped Santos in the round. Santos, at the time, was desperately trying to take Foreman out knowing that he was behind in the fight.

In the first four rounds of the fight, Foreman used a lot side to side movement and quick slashing attacks to land shots and get away before the southpaw Santos could respond with his own shots. Santos, 34, looked rusty and uncomfortable against Foreman.

This was Santo’s first fight in the past 15 months and he looked like he was feeling the effects from his inactivity. Since 2004, Santos has averaged one fight per year for some reason. He captured the WBA light middleweight title last year with a 6th round TKO win over then champion Joachim Alcine. However, that still didn’t get Santos back in the ring sooner to defend his title.

Foreman continued to have his way with Santos in rounds five though eight. Foreman clashed heads with Santos twice in the 6th round. Santos began to look really uncomfortable each time Foreman would come charging forward as if expecting to be hit with Foreman’s head. The head butts continued in the 7th round as the two fighters clashed heads twice very hard.

On the second head clash, Foreman was cut above his left eye. The fight was hard to watch because of the head butts and the movement from Foreman. He was dominating the action, but his diving forward with his head seemed to be one of the reasons for his ability to control the fight. The movement was less than pleasing to watch, because Foreman looked like a poor copy of Sergio Martinez.

The 8th round had three head butts between the fighter. It was a close round as Santos landed some hard left hands. Foreman fought well in the 9th through 11th, looking to be the fresher fighter over this period of action. There was two more head butts in the 10th round. Foreman used a lot of side to side movement in the 11th, and hit and ran much of the time.

Near the end of the round, Foreman literally turned his back and ran from Santos while along the ropes. It looked very amateurish as Santos pursued him and was just about to tag Foreman in the back of the head when the round ended. Foreman then ran into the side of the ropes and bounced off, losing his balance. In the 12th, Foreman ran through most of the round and seemed to be content with running out the clock.

Santos pressured him constantly in the round loading up with every shot. Late in the round, Foreman knocked Santos down with a short left to the head as Santos came flying forward trying to connect with a shot. He looked to be hurt from the left hand from Foreman. However, Foreman wasn’t interested in trying to finish him off and was content with using side to side movement to run out the remaining seconds on the clock.

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In welterweight action on the card, contender Jesus Soto Karass (24-4-3, 16 KO’s) sabotaged his own efforts by throwing numerous low blows in his fight with the tough Alfonso Gomez (21-4-2, 10 KO’s), which resulted in Karass being docked 1 point in both the 3rd and 4th rounds. The fight was stopped ultimately in the 6th round due to a cut above the right eye of Gomez was caused by a clash of heads in the 3rd round. Gomez, 29, dominated the action in rounds one through four, using his jab and hooks to get the better of the 5’10” Karass.

The cut worsened in the 5th, as blood dripped constantly from it making it hard for Gomez to see. Karass came back in the 5th and 6th and appeared to get the better of Gomez with left-right combinations. The action was stopped in the 6th and the fight was ruled a technical decision. In winning the fight, Gomez captured the vacant World Boxing Council Continental Americas welterweight title.