By Ian S Palmer
There’s more boxing this Tuesday, June 16th when the MGM Grand in Las Vegas hosts a 10-round welterweight bout between former lightweight champion Antonio DeMarco of Mexico and the unbeaten Giovani Santillin of San Diego, California. The fight can be seen live in the USA on ESPN and ESPN Deportes and on TSN in Canada. DeMarco last fought in July when he dropped a 10-round unanimous decision to Jamal James. Santillin stopped Wilfrido Buelvas in the second round in November in his last outing.
The 34-year-old DeMarco is 33-8-1 with 24 Kos and has lost his last two fights and five of his last seven. DeMarco of Los Mochis, Mexico is a southpaw who stands 5-feet-10-inches tall with a 71-inch reach. He’s a former WBC Lightweight Champion who turned pro back in 2004 and has fought 241 rounds since. He’s beaten some good boxers such as John Molina, Jorge Linares, Reyes Sanchez, Daniel Attah and Jose Reyes.
However, he often struggled when stepping up in class and has fallen short in big fights against Edwin Valero, Adrien Broner, Jessie Vargas, Omar Figueroa Jr and Rances Barthelemy. He’s got a pretty good chin though as only Broner and Valero managed to stop him. He also came up on the wrong end of a 10-round unanimous decision to Maxim Dadashev in October 2018 in a shot at the NABF Super Lightweight Crown and lost a six-round majority decision to Anthony Vasquez back in 2006. DeMarco’s lone draw was a six-round affair with Curtis Meeks the same year.
He stopped Linares in the 11th round in 2011 to win the vacant WBC Lightweight Title and defended it against Miguel Roman and Molina before losing it to Broner in 2012. His loss to Vargas was for the WBA Super Lightweight Championship in November of 2014 and his defeat to Valero was for the WBC Lightweight Belt in 2010. Since turning pro, DeMarco has also captured the WBO NABO Lightweight Title and the WBC Silver Lightweight Title. He has possesses decent power with a current knockout ratio of 57.1 per cent.
Santillin steps into the ring with a perfect mark of 25-0 with 15 Kos. He’s a 28-year-old southpaw who beat Hugo Centeno Jr as an amateur. He turned pro in 2012 and has 105 rounds of experience to his name. He won the vacant NABF Junior Super Lightweight Title in 2014 by stopping Osenohan Vazquez in the fifth round. He then added the WBO NABO Welterweight Title when he stopped Sammy Valentin in the second round in 2017.
He defended that belt against Dodzi Kemeh and Alejandro Barboza via stoppages in the fourth and second rounds respectively. Santillin has pretty good power in his hands with a current knockout ratio of 60 per cent. He’s 5-feet-8-inches tall with an unlisted reach so gives up two inches in height to DeMarco.
Prediction……
This is a tough call. DeMarco lives in Las Vegas now so should be comfortable there during the recent lockdown. He’s also got plenty of experience as well as a good chin and power. He’s past his prime now though and six years older than Santillin. However, Santillin realizes a win here will likely change his life and enable him to make a name for himself. DeMarco will make a good, close fight of this but I think he might fall just short.
