SAN ANTONIO – Mark Magsayo is fully confident defeating mandatory challenger Rey Vargas on Saturday night will lead to a featherweight title unification fight.

If Magsayo’s instinct is correct, the undefeated Filipino fighter wants to battle Leo Santa Cruz. The WBC featherweight champion thinks a fight with Santa Cruz should be “easy to negotiate” because both boxers are affiliated with Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions.

“It’s gonna be a great fight, Mexico against the Philippines, the rivalry,” Magsayo told BoxingScene.com. “It’ll be a very good fight because he’s not gonna run. And me, I’m not gonna run, too. It’s gonna be a great night. It’s gonna be an exciting fight because Leo Santa Cruz is a Hall-of-Famer, a four-time world champion. It would be the biggest fight for me.”

Santa Cruz (38-2-1, 19 KOs) hasn’t boxed at the featherweight limit of 126 pounds in nearly 3½ years, not since he beat Rafael Rivera by unanimous decision in their 12-round, non-title fight in February 2019 at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. The 33-year-old Santa Cruz, of Rosemead, California, is still recognized by the WBA as its “super” 126-pound champion, which would qualify him for a unification fight against Magsayo (24-0, 16 KOs) if Magsayo can become the first fighter to beat Mexico’s Vargas (35-0, 22 KOs).

England’s Leigh Wood (26-2, 16 KOs) owns the WBA world featherweight title. Another Brit, Josh Warrington (31-1-1, 8 KOs), holds the IBF 126-pound championship.

Mexico’s Emanuel Navarrete (35-1, 29 KOs) is the WBO featherweight champion.

The 27-year-old Magsayo would be open to unification fights against any of the aforementioned champions. A bout with Santa Cruz, however, would afford Magsayo at least an opportunity to knock off Santa Cruz and Gary Russell Jr. in a relatively short span of time.

“It [would be] a big achievement for me,” Magsayo said. “Two big names in one year. Maybe it can put me in the Hall of Fame.”

Russell (31-2, 18 KOs), a southpaw from Capitol Heights, Maryland, was boxing’s longest-reigning champion when Magsayo upset him January 22 at Borgata Event Center in Atlantic City. The 34-year-old Russell suffered an injury to his right shoulder early in the fourth round, which limited him to full use of only his left arm for eight-plus rounds of a 12-round fight Magsayo won on two scorecards (115-113, 115-113, 114-114).

Magsayo-Vargas is the main event of a tripleheader Showtime will televise from Alamodome, starting at 9 p.m. ET.

Former WBC super bantamweight champion Brandon Figueroa (22-1-1, 17 KOs), of Weslaco, Texas, will face Phoenix’s Carlos Castro (27-1, 12 KOs) in the 12-round co-feature, a WBC featherweight elimination match. Frank Martin (15-0, 11 KOs), a lightweight contender from Indianapolis, and the Dominican Republic’s Jackson Marinez (19-2, 7 KOs) are set to square off in the 10-round opener of Showtime’s telecast.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.