Giovani Santillan will make his junior middleweight debut on Saturday and hopes to fight for a world title by the end of the year. In fact, he will be an interested observer of the card’s main event – a title unification between WBO beltholder Xander Zayas and WBA titleholder Abass Baraou.
Santillan will face Courtney Pennington in a 10-round bout at the Coliseo Jose Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Santillan, 34-1 (18 KOs), began his career at junior welterweight in 2012 and has spent most of his career at welterweight. A 34-year-old from San Diego, Santillan fought Brian Norman Jnr for the vacant WBO welterweight title in his hometown in 2024, and was knocked out. He bounced back with wins in his two most recent fights, leading into his debut in a third weight class.
“I feel good at 154lbs,” Santillan said at Thursday's press conference. “It was less of a focus on getting down to the weight and more on the fight itself.”
Santillan last fought in May when he won a unanimous decision over Angel Gabriel Beltran Villa. Santillan, who trains with Robert Garcia, is hoping to put himself in a position to again contend for a belt. (His placement on a junior middleweight card surely isn’t an accident.)
Santillan noted that he is interested in what happens at the top of the card.
“I am definitely going to be watching,” he said of Zayas-Abaraou. “I want to show everyone there is a new fighter in the weight class coming for the belts.”
Pennington, 17-11-3 (7 KOs), has lost his past five fights. A 39-year-old from Brooklyn, New York, Pennington has faced notables such as Grant Flores, Custio Clayton and Christopher Guerrero during that period.
Santillan hopes a good performance on Saturday leads to a shot against the unified beltholder in the main event.
“I have big goals,” “I want to fight for another world title.”
Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.
