This fight is a very good test for Giovani as DeMarco is a former world champion who has consistently faced top competition in his career. He has the potential to win this fight and get himself out of the role of being a gatekeeper so he should be highly motivated.
Of the footage I could find of Santillan he seems to be a decent counter puncher who feints a lot. He has decent power but nothing out of this world. Its hard to get a read on him really but he seems relatively consistent all around with no glaring flaws. It wouldn’t surprise me if they match him up with Crawford if he wins a few more times so he should be highly motivated.
DeMarco is hugely experienced and has been on the world scene for over a decade so nothing Santillan does will be new to him. He doesn’t have the quickest hands in the world but his punches are normally crisp and thrown with purpose as he doesn’t have the highest punch output. He’s got a good chin that should hold up to anything Santillan throws at it and his defense is decent though he does have the habit of just taking the punishment rather than trying to avoid it.
I think this fight will be very competitive and will have a lot of swing rounds. I’m going to pick Santillan to win because he has the youth on his side and any close rounds will likely go to him as hes signed to Top Rank
Boxing Fulcrum 