By Francisco Salazar

The whirlwind ride from unknown to world title contender continues for Giovani Santillan.

The unbeaten welterweight will face Dodzi Kemeh on Nov. 17, Thompson Boxing Promotions announced Thursday afternoon. The 10 round bout will take place at the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario, California.

It will be the first fight for Santillan (22-0, 12 knockouts) since scoring a second round knockout victory over Sammy Valentin on July 7 in Tampa, Florida.
The southpaw Santillan, who resides in the San Diego area, is currently ranked number seven by the WBO.

Santillan is the latest in a long line of fighters who have been developed through Thompson Boxing Promotions. The Southern California-based promotional company has developed the likes of Timothy Bradley, Mauricio Herrera, Josesito Lopez, and most recently, Danny Roman into world title contenders and titleholders.

“I feel great heading into my fight against Kemeh,” said Santillan, who has sparred the likes of Floyd Mayweather and Timothy Bradley, Jr. “I just have to continue to build quality wins to work my way up the rankings.”

“I stay ready all year and have seen so many different styles in sparring through the years that I’m comfortable going up against anyone at this point.”

Nov. 17 will mark the first time he hard-hitting Kemeh (19-1, 17 KOs) will be fighting outside his native Ghana. He has won his last three fights, all by knockout.

The Santillan fight will mark the third time Kemeh will face a fighter with a winning record.

Also fighting on the Thompson Boxing card will be featherweight Erick Ituarte (18-1-1, 2 KOs). The fighter from nearby Garden Grove will face gatekeeper Jose Estrella (18-13-1, 12 KOs) in an eight round bout.

Junior welterweight Manuel Mendez (15-2-2, 11 KOs), who is trained by Joel Diaz, will square off against Abraham Cordero (13-3-1, 7 KOs) of Mexico in an eight round bout.

Four preliminary bouts are scheduled to round out the card.

The fight card will be shown in its entirety at Thompsonboxing.com and ThompsonBoxing’s Facebook page (11 p.m. ET/ 8 p.m. PT).Beto Duran will call the action, while Steve Kim will provide the color commentary from ringside.      

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