By Jim Dower: Opting to choose the No.15 ranked contender Danny Santiago (31-5-1, 19 KO’s) rather than a serious test, WBA light heavyweight champion Beibut Shumenov (12-1, 8 KO’s) scored a 9th round TKO on Friday night in his third title defense at the South Point Hotel Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada.

The fight was halted when Shumenov opened up with a flurry of hard mechanical looking punches in the 9th that ended with referee Tony Weeks halting the fight 0:46 of the round. Shumenov, who has hardly looked impressive since capturing the World Boxing Association title with a very questionable 12 round split decision over Gabriel Campillo in January 2010, took a real pounding in the fight and was badly marked up by the 38-year-old Santiago.

This was supposed to be an easy fight, as Santiago is getting up there in age and was crushed in the past by fighters like Antonio Tarver and Zsolt Erdei. However, Shumenov proved, if anything, he’s not in the same class as those guys, as he struggled badly against Santiago and looked painfully slow, not powerful, and very amateurish with his fighting style. Shumenov, a former 2004 Olympian for Kazakhstan, still looked like he was fighting with an amateur rather than a pro style by landing quick scoring punches rather than putting power into them.

Following the bout, former WBC light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal expressed interest in fighting Shumenov. Perhaps we could see a fight between them. Can’t say who would win, because Pascal is someone that can be outworked as Bernard Hopkins proved, and Shumenov is good at throwing light scoring punches. He could wear down a fighter like Pascal, who gets by with his pot shot style of fighting.

In other action on the card:

Lonnie Smith RTD3 Eduardo Arcos