Alexandro Santiago feels motivated by his son’s birth to upset Nonito Donaire
On Saturday, Alexandro Santiago will face former four-weight world champion Nonito Donaire for the vacant WBC bantamweight title on Showtime at The Chelsea inside The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
Santiago, The Ring’s No. 5-rated bantamweight, will be taking part in his second world title fight, after coming up short in an IBF title shot in 2018.
“It has been a long time coming,” Santiago (27-3-5, 14 knockouts) told The Ring through his promoter Paco Damian. “I have been waiting for another world title opportunity since my draw with [Jerwin] Ancajas.
“[Donaire] is a legend, a future Hall of Famer. His timing and power are respectable.”
Although Donaire is the more known commodity, Santiago has been a professional for a decade, has 35 fights on his ledger and is a young veteran at 27. The Mexican learnt his trade under the well-regarded Quirarte family, helmed by Romulo and his sons Bobby and Roberto, in his hometown of Tijuana. Along with Damian, they have guided his career thus far.
However, despite previously contesting a world title, this is a large step up in competition.
“Donaire was and still is one of the best fighters of my era,” he said. “When I turned pro, he was already a world champion. It will be a great honor to share the ring with him on July 15.”
Santiago, whose family run 15 hotdog stalls in Tijuana, has spent much of his training camp at the Crea.
“Camp has been great; we have been preparing for this fight for over three-months,” he explained. “I have been traveling for extra sparring to San Diego and Los Angeles.”
He hopes to parlay his training camp into the performance of his life against his hero to bring new hardware home for a recent arrival.
“It will be a dream come true, I have been working for this moment all my life and now it is here,” he said. “Come July 15, you will see the best of me. I am going to do my very best to come victorious and bring the world championship belt to Tijuana and to my son, who is one-month old. He is healthy and life is beautiful.”
Damian, who has worked with several world champions but Santiago would be the first he has guided to a world title, appreciates the size of the task in front of his fighter but remains positive.
“It is a very tough fight, we are talking about fighting a living legend,” said Damian. “It is experience and power against youth.
“Of course, I am going with my guy, Santiago. I know he is going to fight his heart out to come out victorious. I have a lot of confidence in him and I am sure he will get his hand raised.
“Don’t miss it, tune into Showtime to witness Alexandro Santiago fulfil his dream of becoming a world champion.”
Donaire (42-7, 28 KOs), The Ring’s No. 3 rated bantamweight, won world titles at 112, 118, 122 and 126. The big-punching Filipino scored impressive wins over the likes of Vic Darchinyan (TKO 5), Fernando Montiel (TKO 2), Toshiaki Nishioka (TKO 9) and Jorge Arce (KO 3).
In 2018, “The Filipino Flash” surprisingly dropped back down to bantamweight and took part in the WBSS. He beat Ryan Burnett (RTD 4) and late substitute Stephon Young (TKO 6) before giving Naoya Inoue all he could handle in a decision loss. He then picked up the WBC title by impressively knocking out Nordine Oubaali (KO 4). After one defense, the 40-year-old met Inoue in a rematch and was stopped in two-rounds.
A very intriguing matchup. Donaire is the more proven fighter, and though he has had something of an Indian summer to his career, he is 13-years older than Santiago and has been off for over a year. Can Donaire find a way to land his vaunted left hook? We don’t know what he has left at this stage. There are so many intangibles it’s difficult to make a confident prediction.
Martin-Harutyunan, plus undercards bouts, will be broadcast on Showtime at 10 p.m. ET/ 7 p.m. PT.
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