In this Q&A, red hot trainer Bob Santos discusses Carlos “Caballo Bronco” Adames’ third round knockout victory over Juan Macias Montiel this past Saturday night in Carson, California in a Showtime televised bout.  The Las Vegas based trainer has been on a roll this year with several of his fighters picking up high profile wins.

BoxingScene.com: Congratulations on Adames’ big win over Montiel.  I don’t think anyone predicted an early knockout.  Now that a couple days have passed, what are your thoughts on your fighter’s performance?

Bob Santos:  I can’t say enough about Carlos’ performance.  People know that he had a lot of issues in the weeks leading up to the fight but they don’t know how complicated and difficult it really was for him and the whole team when he should have only had to focus on making weight and staying sharp.  Adames is the best middleweight. It is that simple.  I would put him up against anyone at 160 or even 168.  Charlo, Canelo, Golovkin, Benavidez, Plant, he beats them all.  The fans of the sport are finally getting to see what Carlos is capable of doing.

BoxingScene.com: With the win he picked up the interim WBC world middleweight title and became the mandatory to challenger to the WBC champion Jermall Charlo who had a much tougher fight with Montiel in his last outing.  The saying is that triangle theories don’t work in boxing but you seem very confident that your guy would beat Charlo.

Bob Santos: Montiel isn’t an easy fighter to beat. Let’s get that clear.  All of his victories have been by knockout and he had only been stopped once.  He gave Charlo a lot of problems but Adames is a different animal completely.  He can switch stances, throws punches from different angles.  Carlos is a problem for any fighter at 160 or 168.

BoxingScene.com: 2022 has been a big year for you.  You guided Hector Luis Garcia to a huge upset win over Chris Colbert and he followed that up with a win over Roger Gutierrez to become a super featherweight champion.  You also led Albert Puello to a win over Botirzhon Akhmedov to win a 140 pound title and have several other prospects who have picked up wins.  With those high profile wins you may find yourself in the running for Trainer of the Year.

Bob Santos: I have been in the sport for a long time but I mostly chose to stay in the background.  I have been blessed to have great fighters to work with. They are hard workers and want to learn. As far as Trainer of the Year, that is for the fans and the media to talk about, but I am very grateful for all of the recognition that I have received and just want to keep working hard and achieve more success.

BoxingScene.com:  Can you give us an update on Garcia and Puello’s next fight dates and potential opponents?

Bob Santos:  We are working behind the scenes to get them in the ring in the near future.  These guys have worked hard and paid their dues and are now in position to get very big fights.  As you know, making these fights can be complicated but we should have some news for all the fans very soon on both of them and also news on my new Cuban heavyweight Lenier Pero who I am now training.

Garcia was a 50-1 underdog versus Chris Colbert and dominated him and did the same against Gutierrez. The fight that makes the most sense for him is a showdown at 135 pounds against Gervonta Davis. I believe the fans would be very interested in that matchup. 

There are also many interesting fights at 140 for Puello. He would love to face any champion and unify titles. People are sleeping on how good he is. Akhmedov was a big favorite to win that fight and many experts thought Puello would get stopped. Not many people were picking Puello but he dug deep and showed what kind of heart he has. He’s a true warrior in the ring. 

BoxingScene.com: Do you have a message for all of the fans?

Bob Santos: I want to thank them all for their support.  While I have fighters of several different nationalities, I would like to send a special shot out to all the fans of the Dominican Republic.  They haven’t really ever gotten the credit like their Caribbean neighbors in Puerto Rico and Cuba, but they now have four new champions and I am training all of them. Adames, Garcia, Puello and also Mini Pacman - Erick Rosa.

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