Despite his unblemished record, Foreman came in as the underdog to Puerto Rican fight Santos, who had a victory against Antonio Margarito on his resume.

But the 34-year-old Santos had not fought in nearly 18 months and had trouble getting down to the 154-pound weight limit. He looked rusty and slow, and the much quicker Foreman, 29, took advantage, pursing him for most of the fight and connecting often with combinations. Foreman sent Santos to the canvas in the second round as the stunned crowd, many of them Puerto Ricans here to watch countryman Miguel Cotto in the main event later against Manny Pacquiao for the WBO welterweight title, remained quiet.

Santos went down a couple more times in the middle rounds, but the referee ruled them slips.

Foreman's quickness allowed him to duck several of Santos' roundhouse swings throughout the fight, and the Puerto Rican was clearly becoming frsutrated. An accidental head butt by Santos opened a cut above Foreman's right eye in the third round, and Santos received his own cut in the 11th round on another accidental head butt.

Foreman scored another knockdown in the 12th round and when the final bell rang, jumped for joy, knowing he had beaten the odds and became the first Israeli champion and first Jewish champion since Mike Rossman in 1978. Foreman was born in Belarus and emigrated to Israel at age 11, then to Brooklyn at 19.

"I'm very proud to do this for Israel, and for Brooklyn, and to show that Jews can fight," Foreman said.

According to CompuBox final stats, Foreman threw 512 punches to Santos' 433, and connected on 146 for a 29% connect rate. Santos connected on 105, for a 24% rate. The three ringside judges scored it 116-110, 117-109 and 117-109 for Foreman.

On the televised portion of the undercard:

—Alfonso Gomez won a unanimous technical decision over Jesus Soto Karass for the vacant WBC Continental Americas welterweight title. Gomez was cut over his right eye in the third round by an accidental head butt and was bleeding pretty badly, but kept fighting.

At 2:41 of the sixth round, the referee stopped the fight, consulted the ring physician, and decided the cut over Gomez' right eye was too bad to continue.

They went to the scorecards, which is how it works if the fight has gone past the fourth round. The three ringside judges scored the bout 58-44, 57-55 and 57-55, all for Gomez.

—Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., son of the Mexican legend, won a unanimous decision over Troy Rowland of Grand Rapids, Mich., in a middleweight fight.

Enlarge By Al Bello, Getty Images Yuri Foreman celebrates after he defeats Daniel Santos by unanimous decision to become the WBA super welterweight champion.