White Knocks Out Santemore in Fifth Round at Irvine

Mike White showed a new aggressiveness Monday as he scored a fifth-round knockout of Walter Santemore in the main event of the boxing program at the Irvine Marriott in front of a sellout crowd of 1,380.

It was a nontitle defense for White (21-7), a 7-footer from Long Beach who is the California heavyweight champion.

Santemore started the fifth round with a wild overhand right that White ducked. Santemore had hurt White with the same punch in the first round.

But in the fifth, White landed a combination that dropped Santemore to his knees 38 seconds into the round.

Santemore said it was White’s elbow that did the real damage on the first knockdown. After the eight count, White attacked with combinations again and Santemore fell 1:11 into the round.

Santemore (22-10) of New Orleans, got to his feet but White trapped him in the corner and landed a series of combinations before the fight was stopped 2:08 into the round.

“It’s something I have to do every fight from now on,” White said. “I need to throw more punches and more combinations to be more effective.”