Vet Santillan, Rookie Mansour Eager for Bouts Before Hometown Crowd

Two San Diego boxers. One driven by a quest for a championship. The other by a mission to represent his Middle Eastern heritage and community.

Both will take the next step in their journeys this Saturday night at Pechanga Arena in the Midway District as part of the undercard of the championship bout between Emanuel Navarrete and Denys Berincyk

Giovani Santillan (30-0, 17 KOs) will face unbeaten Brian Norman (25-0, 19 KOs) in a 12-round welterweight fight that is the co-feature on the Top Rank boxing card.

Santillan, 32, believes he’s close to a world title shot, and a victory Saturday will provide him

with an opportunity for a championship bout against a top-name foe.

“I’m excited to be fighting again in San Diego,” he said. “I’m excited especially coming off of my

last fight. I think people are really anticipating what I’m going to do next.”

Santillan, who lives in Mira Mesa, was exposed to boxing when his father took him to a gym in

Logan Heights. Although he called it an old-school smelly and dirty gym, he “instantly fell in love with it.” And boxing became a lifelong journey for him.

He has fought in San Diego before but doesn’t look at the upcoming fight as giving him a home-field advantage.

“I look at it as when you step inside the ring, it doesn’t matter where the ring is,” he said. “It

could be in this city, in that city. I have to treat it the same and train just as hard and stay just as focused in every fight.”

Jonny Mansour has been training since he was eight years old and Saturday will be his

professional debut at age 23 in his hometown.

“It’s a blessing,” said Mansour. “Something that I always wanted to do. Starting in my hometown is great.”

Mansour will be facing Anel Dudo in a four-round, lightweight battle. Mansour, who is nicknamed “Magic,” said fans will see his elusive style.

“Being able to hit and not get hit,” he said. “It comes with a lot of speed, a lot of power, a lot of

footwork. A mixture of everything. But at the end of the day, it’s the sweet science. How many

times can you hit someone without getting hit.”

As for making his debut in his hometown, Mansour said: “There’s many emotions that come with it. “I would say nervous is something that keeps me focused. I take everything as a great energy to fill me up in the ring.”

Another emotion he draws energy from is pride in his Iraqi heritage.

“My plan is to be the first Iraqi world champion,” he said. “To me, it’s great to be able to carry on that Middle Eastern heritage.”

A resident of La Mesa, he trains at the Bomber Squad Boxing Academy in El Cajon, which

hosted a public workout last weekend for him and Santillan.

On Saturday, Mansour is expecting to see a strong showing by fans from East County, which has a significant Middle Eastern population.

“My goal is to build that faith in the Middle Eastern heritage,” he said. “To build facilities in the

Middle East. The bigger I get, the bigger I want to grow the Middle East in the sport of boxing.”

Navarrete and Berincyk will fight for the vacant WBO lightweight world championship. The main event, and Santillan’s fight, are scheduled to be broadcast live at 7 p.m. Saturday on ESPN.

Gates open at 3:30 p.m. at Pechanga and tickets remain, starting at $25.