Galal Yafai was never a threat to lose on a night that wasn’t as kind to his former amateur teammate.
The unbeaten flyweight remained perfect as a pro after a ten-round, unanimous decision over the spectacularly mustachio’d Rocco Santomauro. Scores were 99-91, 98-93 and 97-93 for Yafai in their DAZN-aired undercard bout Saturday evening at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
The fight was preceded by the disastrous U.S. debut of Liverpool’s Peter McGrail, who suffered a one-punch, fifth-round knockout to Ja’Rico O’Quinn after winning every minute of their DAZN opener. McGrail was a member of the Great Britain team who competed in the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics where Birmingham’s Yafai won a Gold medal and was arguably the standout fighter of the entire competition.
His pro career has come at an accelerated pace. Yafai has been scheduled for ten rounds in each of his six starts, though he was extended past the fifth—and to the cards—just once prior to Saturday evening. The lone threat of an early night came in round two, when the 31-year-old British southpaw rocked Santomauro with a straight left hand.
Santomauro quickly regained his composure and was competitive even if he didn’t win rounds. The 36-year-old from Apple Valley, California found success with his left hook and came forward for much of the fight. Yafai used his jab to set up clean, straight left hands but his frequent defensive lapses allowed Santomauro to have his moments.
The knockout-thirsty crowd in the greater Phoenix area venue grew restless as it became clear the fight was headed to the scorecards. Santomauro did his best to make it a dogfight but was also forced to battle through a cut over his left eye.
Yafai was instructed by his corner to exploit the openings provided by Santomauro and not stand directly in front of his opponent. More angles were offered in the ninth as Yafai landed with lefts and then immediately slid out of harm’s way. The exception came in the closing seconds of the round when Santomauro connected with a counter right as Yafai stood too long in front of the American and left his chin in the air.
Santomauro hoped to carry over that brief momentum shift at the start of the tenth and final round. Yafai wouldn’t allow it, as he landed left hands and then immediately took a step back to avoid return fire. Santomauro never stopped his pursuit of an upset, and landed clean right hands in the final 90 seconds of the bout. It wasn’t enough to erase the considerable deficit on the scorecards as Santomauro (22-3, 6KOs) suffered his second straight defeat.
Yafai advanced to 6-0 (4KOs) with his second career win on U.S. soil. The youngest of the Yafai boxing brothers—Kal held a secondary WBA junior bantamweight title and Gamal is a former title challenger—needed just two rounds to take out Miguel Cartagena on the Katie Taylor Amanda Serrano undercard last April 30 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Headlining the show, IBF flyweight titlist Sunny Edwards (20-0, 4KOs) and WBO claimant Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez (18-0, 11KOs) collide in a scheduled twelve-round unification bout between unbeaten title holders.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox