FORMER world title challenger Jeo Santisima suffered another hurdle in his career after losing by a lopsided unanimous decision to Japanese prospect Toshiki Shimomachi last Sunday night, Dec. 11, 2022, at the Edion Arena in Osaka, Japan.
The 26-year-old Santisima was totally outclassed by Shimomachi after 10 rounds of action.
Judges Nobuto Ikehara, Kenji Kondo and Satoshi Toyama were all in unison and had the same scores of 99-91.
Santisima won his previous fight in Japan last Aug. 14 after he stopped Hiroshige Osawa in five rounds. He was hoping to kick off a campaign in Japan, move up the ranks and hopefully earn himself another world title shot. Shimomachi, however, had other ideas and derailed Santisima’s future plans.
Before the fight, Santisima was ranked No. 13 in the featherweight division by the World Boxing Organization (WBO). With the loss, he could either slide down a few notches or completely lose his world ranking.
Santisima fought for a world back in 2020. He challenged then WBO super bantamweight king Emanuel Navarrete and lost by an 11th-round technical knockout.
Santisima fell to 22-5 with 19 knockouts, while Shimomachi improved to 16-1-2 with 11 knockouts.
Three other Pinoy warriors also lost in Japan.
Ronnie Baldonado bowed down to former world title contender Sho Isida via a lopsided unanimous decision.
Judges Toshimichi Himeno, Nobuto Ikehara and Satohshi Toyama had identical scores of 80-72 in favor of Ishida.
Baldonado suffered his third straight loss and dropped to 15-4-1 with nine knockouts, while Ishida won his third straight and improved to 32-3 with 16 knockouts.
Clyde Azarcon (17-6-1, 6 KOs) was knocked out by Yuga Ozaki (2-0, 2 KOs) in the second round of a scheduled six-rounder, while Jose Roda Jr. (8-2-2, 1 KO) was stopped by Takafumi Shibata (4-1, 2 KOs) in the fifth round.