David Santos Fought His Way From an IBA Belt to an IBF Title Chance
David Santos reached an IBF super featherweight championship opportunity against Carlos Hernández on February 1, 2003, in Las Vegas. The contest ended with a technical decision after an accidental head clash, adding a difficult conclusion to a career that also included an IBA featherweight championship.
Career highlights
Santos won the vacant International Boxing Association featherweight title by split decision over Max Gomez on April 5, 1997. The twelve-round fight took place in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and is listed in the IBA title-fight chronology maintained by BoxRec.
The featherweight victory preceded his later opportunity at super featherweight, the 130-pound division. Those two championship settings mark separate stages of his career, with the IBF bout placing him opposite Hernández for a vacant major world title.
The Hernández title fight
Hernández and Santos met in Las Vegas on a card that also featured Juan Manuel Márquez against Manuel Medina. Santos became unable to continue after an accidental headbutt in the eighth round, and the contest went to the scorecards.
ESPN’s contemporary title-fight recap records Hernández as the winner by eighth-round technical decision. The result awarded Hernández the vacant IBF championship. Santos’s career therefore includes both a championship victory over Gomez at featherweight and a later IBF challenge at super featherweight, with the latter decided through the judges after the injury stoppage.
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David Santos Fought His Way From an IBA Belt to an IBF Title Chance, Boxing, Combat sports
