Friday night Showtime Sho-Box card from Santa Ynez, California sprung a couple of surprises - not that both favorites came out on top but in how they played out.

Show opens with scheduled eight round lightweight affair with undefeated Archie Ray Marquez facing veteran Juan Santiago -  Marquez the age 22 touted one and Santiago age 25 the veteran of 18 prior kept appointments.

Surprise numero uno is seeing both fighters answering the opening bell while opting to work at close quarters - and after three minutes of spirited action maybe Marquez has the edge.

Caught this viewer flatfooted when Santiago wasted a size advantage at 5'10" to 5'8" - ok, maybe the brainless trust drafted that stupid battle plan looking for a long shot opening round knockout.

Round two and surprise two; good ol' California referee in charge Ray Corona is faked out by Santiago when the fighter is tagged with a Marquez power punch that touched down borderline low - location a hair below the belt - as in DMZ opposed to below that infamous Korean War 38th Parallel.

Santiago quickly goes "Hollywood" as if just being whacked under the metal cup protected by the leather harness - falls to his knees before lying on the canvas - and here comes "Clown" Corona to the rescue - debits Marquez a point and assures our fighter turned thespian Santiago to take as much time as he wants to recover.

Whew! Finally, they resume with the ring action and Marquez is all over Santiago with a barrage of punches that he caps with a right hand to the head and Santiago is down again.

Stanza three begins with Marquez out of his corner like a Derby winner with both hands flying and Santiago backed to the ropes with all the fight out of him - Corona jumps in to call it no mas at no more than eleven seconds into the round.

Post Scripts: Archie Ray Marquez ( 10-0-1, 7 KOs) - age 22 a plus. Tough kid that has time to grow. Punches in bunches but jury still not sequestered - decent club fight material at this point.
                    Juan Santiago (13-5-1, 8 KOs) - age 25 - entered off up and down career - a 5'10" lightweight  with height and reach advantage and elects to work inside is one thing - to enlist aid of hack referee another one. Kid needs dumping the brain trust while calling it a career - Hollywood is calling.

Beat continues with defending USBA Jr. Welter champ Tim "Pit Bull" Coleman defending against Pat "El Elegante" Lopez an age 33 southpaw.

Coleman has the edge in round one with better technique - nothing all that special at this point - then numero dos with Coleman bringing out the heavy duty and midway in the stanza drops Lopez with right hand - surprisingly, Lopez recovers late with power punches of his own.

Then, surprise in this one come round three - Lopez attempting to turn things around goes on the offense only to walk into a bomb of a right uppercut that drops him on his back.

Somehow the elegant one is on his feet before the ten count but when getting the ok from hack in charge David Mendoza, Lopez, out on his feet, is seen walking towards his corner but never makes it as the legs give out and he stumbles into the ropes. 

Enters the books Coleman by TKO 2:13 of round three.

Post Scripts: Tim Coleman (18-1-1, 5 KOs) - age 26 - the finisher right uppercut likely the biggest right hand of his career -  newly under the tutelage of Roger Mayweather can only help the kid. Still, at this point not ready for the sharks of the weight class Timothy Bradley, Devon Alexander, Amir Khan … not to mention other past proven fighters like Judah, Malignaggi, Juan Diaz and others.
                     Pat Lopez (20-3, 12 KOs) - age 33 pretty much sums it up - no longer elegant - the fallout from right hand missile was bad enough for a post fight hospital visit for tests.