By Francisco Salazar
Unbeaten junior welterweight Giovani Santillan will face Juan Garcia Mendez on May 19, Thompson Boxing Promotions matchmaker Alex Camponovo confirmed to BoxingScene.com.
The eight round bout will take place at the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario, California.
Santillan (21-0, with 11 KOs) has emerged as one of Southern California's top welterweight prospects over the last couple of years. The San Diego resident has also been a staple of fight cards promoted by Thompson Boxing in Ontario, where he has fought 14 of his last 15 bouts.
In his last bout on February 10, Santillan won a one-sided eight round decision over Omar Tienda.
"I feel great coming into this fight," said Santillan. "I've been in the gym non-stop."
Mendez (19-2-1, with 12 KOs) had his five-bout winning streak snapped in his last bout on November 4, losing by unanimous decision to unbeaten Xolisani Ndongeni of South Africa.
Mendez, who resides in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico, is familiar with Santillan, having seen videos of the southpaw fighter.
"I learn a lot from the Ndongeni fight. I won't sit back and wait for the fight to come to me. I'm going to take it straight to him."
In the co-feature, Erick Ituarte squares off against Isaac Zarate in an eight round featherweight bout.
The bout pits two Southern California fighters against one another as Ituarte (16-1-1, with 2 KOs), who has won his last nine bouts, resides in nearby Santa Ana and Zarate (12-2-2, with 2 KOs) in San Pedro.
Unbeaten featherweight Ruben Villa (5-0, with 3 KOs), who owns two victories in the amateur ranks over Shakur Stevenson, faces Anthony de Jesus Ruiz (2-2, with 2 KOs) in a six round bout.
Hard-hitting Ricardo Espinoza (10-1, with 8 KOs) squares off against Christian Ayala (9-1, 4 KOs) in an all-Tijuana junior bantamweight bout.
Three more fights round our the 'New Blood' card.
The May 19 card marks the 17th anniversary of Thompson Boxing promoting cards in Ontario. It also coincides with Thompson Boxing beginning to stream fight cards in their entirety. A few fights were streamed from their April 14 show to rave reviews from boxing fans who tuned in.
Well-known boxing announcer Beto Duran and BoxingScene.com's Steve Kim will provide color commentary on the live stream.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper, RingTV.com, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing
