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Is Giovanni Santillan The Next Golden Nugget For Thompson Boxing?

Published

10 years ago

February 19, 2015

One thing about the “little engine that can” Thompson Boxing Promotions, they have a knack for finding world class pro boxing talent. They also feel they’ve found another gem in San Diego’s Giovanni “Gallo de Oro” Santillan.

Santillan (15-0, 8 Kos), a slick junior welterweight southpaw with speed, can also bang and he’ll be matched against last-minute replacement Eduardo Rivera (9-1-2, 3 Kos) of Mexico on Friday, June 20. The main event takes place at the Ontario Doubletree Hotel.

“Giovanni is a very good fighter,” said Alex Camponovo, the matchmaker for Thompson Boxing.

History has shown over the past 15 years that the Orange County-based company has a very accurate barometer when it comes to junior welterweights. Two of their previous discoveries, Tim “Desert Storm” Bradley and Mauricio “El Maestro” Herrera, have proceeded to make big money purses. Bradley captured world titles at junior welterweight and welterweight. Herrera should be walking around with a world title strapped around him if not for some curious scoring.

Can Santillan be Thompson’s next elite fighter?

Since 2013, the San Diego boxer with a long amateur career has been facing solid competition, including a rousing match against a tall undefeated Ukrainian named Daniyar Hanyk, training out of the Wild Card Boxing club. After eight terse rounds that saw each connect solidly, Santillan was able to pull ahead with his better defense to win by unanimous decision.

“Many of them can box really well,” said Santillan, of his Ukrainian opponent Hanyk, who had 10 wins and no losses when they met last April. “And they’re warriors. They come to fight. They are always tough guys.”

After that fight Santillan made sure to spar with other Russian and Ukrainian boxers.

“They’re strong guys,” he added.

The 23-year-old Santillan has been boxing since he was eight years old when his father took him and his brother to the local boxing gym. Giovanni stuck it out and has proceeded to win tournaments, and win selection to Mexico’s Junior Olympic team. It was then that he was exposed to another boxing form.

“In Mexico they bring Cuban trainers. They get hired from Cuba and they help with the boxing team. Cuban amateurs are some of the best in the world,” said Santillan. “The partner drills are little different from what I’m used to. It made us a lot better.”

Santillan said that the training drills and methodology learned while with Mexico’s Junior Olympic team have stuck with him through his entrance to the pro ranks.

“It’s not all defense. We want to score of course. Hit and not get hit,” Santillan said. “We try to get the knockout, but at the same time be smart as we can.”

Focus is one discipline that Santillan tries to maintain as he ventures in the pros. It’s a long road for any boxer but the bull’s eye is marked and he has world title belts on his mind.

“We want to take it far. We want to go for multiple world titles,” said Santillan. “It’s something I’ve always dreamt about to make it as far as possible.”

Other bouts

Ken Thompson, president of Thompson Boxing, said his promotion company is entering the heavyweight sweepstakes. “Yes, we signed a heavyweight named LaRon Mitchell,” said Thompson.

San Francisco’s Mitchell (5-0, 5 Kos) faces Chad Davis (5-12, 4 Kos) in a heavyweight clash. Davis last fought and lost to former heavyweight world champion Serhei Liakhovich by decision after eight rounds.

Also, newly signed Isaac Zarate (9-1-1) meets Pedro Melo (10-7-2) in a bantamweight bout set for six rounds.

For more information call (714) 935-0900.

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David A. Avila

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2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura

Published

9 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

The WBC World Super Featherweight title bout between Francisco Vargas and Takashi Miura came on one of the biggest boxing stages of 2015, as the bout served as the HBO pay-per-view’s co-main event on November 21st, in support of Miguel Cotto vs Saul Alvarez.

Miura entered the fight with a (29-2-2) record and he was making the fifth defense of his world title, while Vargas entered the fight with an undefeated mark of (22-0-1) in what was his first world title fight. Both men had a reputation for all-out fighting, with Miura especially earning high praise for his title defense in Mexico where he defeated Sergio Thompson in a fiercely contested battle.

The fight started out hotly contested, and the intensity never let up. Vargas seemed to win the first two rounds, but by the fourth round, Miura seemed to pull ahead, scoring a knock-down and fighting with a lot of confidence. After brawling the first four rounds, Miura appeared to settle into a more technical approach. Rounds 5 and 6 saw the pendulum swing back towards Vargas, as he withstood Miura’s rush to open the fifth round and the sixth round saw both men exchanging hard punches.

The big swinging continued, and though Vargas likely edged Miura in rounds 5 and 6, Vargas’ face was cut in at least two spots and Miura started to assert himself again in rounds 7 and 8. Miura was beginning to grow in confidence while it appeared that Vargas was beginning to slow down, and Miura appeared to hurt Vargas at the end of the 8th round.

Vargas turned the tide again at the start of the ninth round, scoring a knock down with an uppercut and a straight right hand that took Miura’s legs and sent him to the canvas. Purely on instinct, Miura got back up and continued to fight, but Vargas was landing frequently and with force. Referee Tony Weeks stepped in to stop the fight at the halfway point of round 9 as Miura was sustaining a barrage of punches.

Miura still had a minute and a half to survive if he was going to get out of the round, and it was clear that he was not going to stop fighting.

A back and forth battle of wills between two world championship level fighters, Takashi Miura versus “El Bandido” Vargas wins the 2015 Fight of the Year.

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Jan 9 in Germany – Feigenbutz and De Carolis To Settle Score

Published

9 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

This coming Saturday, January 9th, the stage is set at the Baden Arena in Offenburg, Germany for a re-match between Vincent Feigenbutz and Giovanni De Carolis. The highly anticipated re-match is set to air on SAT.1 in Germany, and Feigenbutz will once again be defending his GBU and interim WBA World titles at Super Middleweight.

The first meeting between the two was less than three months ago, on October 17th and that meeting saw Feigenbutz controversially edge De Carolis on the judge’s cards by scores of (115-113, 114-113 and 115-113). De Carolis scored a flash knock down in the opening round, and he appeared to outbox Feigenbutz in the early going, but the 20 year old German champion came on in the later rounds.

The first bout is described as one of the most crowd-pleasing bouts of the year in Germany, and De Carolis and many observers felt that the Italian had done enough to win.

De Carolis told German language website RAN.DE that he was more prepared for the re-match, and that due to the arrogance Feigenbutz displayed in the aftermath of the first fight, he was confident that he had won over some of the audience. Though De Carolis fell short of predicting victory, he promised a re-vamped strategy tailored to what he has learned about Feigenbutz, whom he termed immature and inexperienced.

The stage is set for Feigenbutz vs De Carolis 2, this Saturday January 9th in Offenburg, Germany. If you can get to the live event do it, if not you have SAT.1 in Germany airing the fights, and The Boxing Channel right back here for full results.

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2015 Knock Out of the Year – Saul Alvarez KO’s James Kirkland

Published

9 years ago

December 29, 2015

The Sweet Science

On May 9th of 2015, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez delivered a resonant knock-out of James Kirkland on HBO that wins the 2015 KO of the Year.

The knock-out itself came in the third round, after slightly more than two minutes of action. The end came when Alvarez delivered a single, big right hand that caught Kirkland on the jaw and left him flat on his back after spinning to the canvas.Alvarez was clearly the big star heading into the fight. The fight was telecast by HBO for free just one week after the controversial and disappointing Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao fight, and Alvarez was under pressure to deliver the type of finish that people were going to talk about. Kirkland was happy to oblige Alvarez, taking it right to Alvarez from the start. Kirkland’s aggression saw him appear to land blows that troubled the young Mexican in the early going. Alvarez played good defense, and he floored Kirkland in the first round, displaying his power and his technique in knocking down an aggressive opponent.

However, Kirkland kept coming at Alvarez and the fight entered the third round with both men working hard and the feeling that the fight would not go the distance. Kirkland continued to move forward, keeping “Canelo” against the ropes and scoring points with a barrage of punches while looking for an opening.

At around the two minute mark, Alvarez landed an uppercut that sent Kirkland to the canvas again. Kirkland got up, but it was clear that he did not have his legs under him. Kirkland was going to try to survive the round, but Alvarez had an opportunity to close out the fight. The question was would he take it?

Alvarez closed in on Kirkland, putting his opponent’s back to the ropes. Kirkland was hurt, but he was still dangerous, pawing with punches and loading up for one big shot.

But it was the big shot “Canelo” threw that ended the night. Kirkland never saw it coming, as he was loading up with a huge right hand of his own. The right Alvarez threw cracked Kirkland in the jaw, and his eyes went blank. His big right hand whizzed harmlessly over the head of a ducking Alvarez, providing the momentum for the spin that left Kirkland prone on the canvas.

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez went on to defeat Miguel Cotto in his second fight of 2015 and he is clearly one of boxing’s biggest stars heading into 2016. On May 9th Alvarez added another reel to his highlight film when he knocked out James Kirkland with the 2015 “Knock Out of the Year”.

Photo by naoki fukuda

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