Hometown favorite Giovanni Santillan returned to glory in San Diego, defeating welterweight Angel Beltran in a Top Rank boxing fight Saturday at Pechanga Arena.
It was a year ago in the same arena where Santillan lost by a 10th-round TKO to current WBO World Welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. Santillan did win one fight after that loss, but he came in Saturday looking to erase the memory of the loss in his hometown.
“I needed to get that done here,” said Santillan, about exorcising his demons from the setback.
And he did, earning a unanimous decision over Mexican fighter Beltran (18-2, 11 KOs) in a 10-round welterweight fight. All three judges scored the fight 97-93.
Santillan (33-1, 18 KOs) started slow and admitted he had trouble getting his jab going. But he picked up the pace as the fight went along. In the fifth round, he appeared to hurt his foe with a left to the head. Beltran moved away, only to be caught again seconds later with another left as he was up against the ropes.
Heading into the last round, Santillan seemed in control but unleashed a low blow that paused the fight as Beltran was given time to recover. The low blow didn’t cost Santillan any points, and he finished with a powerful punch to Beltran’s face seconds before the bell rang.
A ringside seat to this brawl ? pic.twitter.com/MjBiXbhSSH
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) May 11, 2025Santillan said he was excited to be fighting in his hometown and felt the energy of the crowd.
“You definitely hear it,” he said, talking to the media after the fight. “It seemed like everybody was having a great time the whole night.”
Santillan was one of the highlights on a fight card filled with boxers from Southern California and Mexico. The top fights of the night are Emanuel “Vaquero” Navarrete vs. Charly Suarez and Raymond Muratalla vs. Zaur Abdullaev.
In the first fight of the evening, Tijuana’s Sebastian Hernandez (20-0, 18 KOs) defeated Armenian boxer Azat Hovhannisyan (21-6, 17 KOs) by unanimous decision in an entertaining 10-round junior featherweight bout. Hernandez was the aggressor, repeatedly pushing his opponent into the corner and firing combinations and uppercuts.
The second bout featured Alan Garcia, of Los Angeles, defeating Mexican fighter Cristian Medina by unanimous decision.
Wearing bright red trunks and sporting red hair, Garcia (16-1, 11 KOs) brought more of his favorite color into the ring when he bloodied Medina (8-3-1, 5 KOs) twice, giving him cuts on his forehead and over his left eye in the 8-round lightweight bout.
In a women’s 4-round bantamweight fight, Perla Bazaldua of Los Angeles defeated Mona Ward of St. Louis. Bazaldua (2-0, 1 KO) repeatedly outpunched and attacked Ward, landing several punches to the head and body, to win win all four rounds and earn a unanimous decision.
Meanwhile, Mexican boxer Andres Cortes (23-0, 12 KOs) won a unanimous decision over Spanish fighter Salvador Jimenez (14-1-2) in a 10-round junior lightweight fight. The lackluster fight brought some boos from the restless crowd.
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