Welterweights Giovani Santillan and Frederick Lawson will square off in a 10-round fight on December 7 at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, a bout that was added to the undercard of Emanuel Navarrete’s junior lightweight title defense against Oscar Valdez.
Additionally, three more fighters on the verge of breakouts – Richard Torrez Jnr, Albert Gonzalez and Steven Navarro – have been added to the Navarrete-Valdez undercard, which will stream live on ESPN+.
Santillan, 32-1 (17 KOs), a 32-year-old southpaw from San Diego, last year had something of a breakthrough, defeating longtime contender Erick Bone in July and knocking out Alexis Rocha in October. Santillan then fought for an interim welterweight title in May, when he was stopped by Brian Norman Jnr. (who was later elevated to full titleholder status).
Lawson, 30-5 (22 KOs), a 35-year-old Chicago resident originally from Accra, Ghana, topped Estevan Villalobos in April 2023 but followed up with losses to Vergil Ortiz Jnr in January and Rocha in March.
Torrez, 11-0 (10 KOs), a promising heavyweight, and Emiliano Fernando Vargas, 12-0 (10 KO), an electric junior welterweight, will fight in separate eight-rounders. Featherweight “Chop Chop” Gonzalez, 11-0 (7 KOs) will take on Argentina’s Gerardo Antonio Perez, 12-6-1 (3 KOs) in another eight-round fight.
Navarro, a 4-0 (3 KOs) junior bantamweight, will fight for the fifth time in 2024 in a six-rounder against Puerto Rico’s Gabriel Bernardi, 7-1 (3 KOs). Welterweight prospect Art Barrera Jnr, 6-0 (4 KOs) also will appear on the card, in a six-round bout against an opponent to be named.
Featherweight titleholder Rafael Espinoza will defend his belt against Robeisy Ramirez in the co-feature to Navarrete-Valdez. Both fights – each of them rematches – will be televised on ESPN (10:30 p.m. ET).
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