Francisco “Chia” Santana was known in the ring for having both a strong chin and a high work rate.

Last Saturday night, his chin and his body failed him. 

The all-action fighter was stopped in the 10th round by Josesito Lopez in Arlington, Texas on the Errol Spence-Danny Garcia pay-per-view undercard.

Santana took a lot of punches in the fight but that has been the case in many of his fights. However, this time he didn’t look the same.  He hit the canvas twice and was on unsteady legs in the later rounds. His recuperative powers that willed him in previous fights were seemingly gone.

On Monday, Santana announced on social media that he was retiring from the sport.

When reached for comment, Santana told BoxingScene.com, “Yeah, it was a tough pill to swallow. But my body didn’t respond well Saturday night. I couldn’t pull the trigger anymore. I heard that from retired fighters in the past but never thought it would happened to me. Unfortunately it happened to me that night during the fight. It’s better I walk away healthy than to stick around a fight too long and get hurt.”

The 34-year-old former welterweight contender trained in Ventura, Calif. under the tutelage of Joseph “Hoss” Janik. Santana said that he plans on staying in the sport and will assist his former coach.

“Boxing is my life but no more fighting for me. I’m going to help coach Hoss train fighters now and go that route.  I’m still healthy and I have a lot of knowledge in this sport that I can pass on to someone else and maybe I’ll be a better trainer than I was a fighter,” Santana stated. 

Santana leaves the sport with a 25-9-1 record. He holds victories over the likes of Félix Díaz, Eddie Gómez and Freddie Hernandez.  He also has a draw against former unified super welterweight champion Julian Williams.

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