Most professional fighters try to make their fight week as uneventful as possible. With the exception of sweating out the final few pounds to make weight and media obligations, boxers tend to stay in their hotel rooms and focus for their upcoming battle.
This week was a little different for undefeated Jr. Welterweight Milton Santiago Jr.
Santiago (10-0, 3 KO’s) who fights Jose Miguel Castro (4-4, 2 KO’s) tonight at the Valley Forge Casino Resort finished his final exams and graduated from William Tennant High School on Thursday.
The card is promoted by King’s Promotions.
“It has been a busy week for sure. Not the average fight week but I focused on the fight,” said Santiago.
Santiago wasn’t able to celebrate like most of his classmates but his core group of friends stuck by him and kept it low key so Santiago can put himself in the best position to put on a great performance on Saturday night.
“Yes we went out but we all just had some salad. No big meals. Training went well and I am ready for Saturday.”
While Santiago had the material to do well in school, there was not much information for his Saturday test in Castro.
“I know he is 4-4 and from Puerto Rico. I searched for video of him but there is none out there. I am just going to go in there and handle my business.”
Santiago is coming off a 6-round unanimous decision over Ray Velez in April 18 in the same venue that he will be fighting on Saturday. In that bout, the soft spoken Santiago was more aggressive as he threw a lot more combinations then he had showed in previous fights.
“Velez was more of a boxer. So I brought the fight to him and I will do that with boxers. I can do a lot of things. I can counter well against aggressive guys as well.”
This will be the 2nd fight with trainer Bozy Ennis. Ennis has continued the evolution of Santiago’s boxing skills.
“Bozy has been teaching me a lot. We been working on my defense and I feel been slipping a lot more punches and also we have been working on sitting down more on my punches.”
With school completed, Santiago can now focus 100% of the time on becoming a world champion. But he says his days of hitting the books aren’t complete by any stretch.
“The extra time that I have now will definitely help my career. I want to focus completely on boxing at least for the next year then I want to start taking some college classes after that. I like business so I want to take some courses in that. For the time being, I am looking forward to fighting every other month and I am getting used to the training schedule.”
“I want to thank everyone on my team, fans and friends and I know the next year will be a great one,” finished Santiago
In the main event, Garrett Wilson (13-9-1, 7 KO’s) of Philadelphia will take on Anthony Caputo Smith (15-4, 10 KO’s) of Kennett Square, PA in a 10-round fight for the Pennsylvania State Cruiserweight title.
The show is a stacked show with 9 big bouts.
In 6 Round bouts:
Eric Spring (5-0, 1 KO) of Reading, PA will take on Robert Sweeney (3-2) of Hampton, VA in a Jr. Middleweight bout.
John Magda (10-0, 7 KO’s) of Rutherford, NJ will battle Dionisio Miranda (22-11-2, 19 KO’s) of Miami in a Super Middleweight bout.
Earl Newman (5-0, 4 KO’s) of Brooklyn, NY will take on Lamont Capers (5-6) of Hawley, PA in a Light Heavyweight tilt.
Stephen Fulton (5-0, 2 KO’s) of Philadelphia will fight Pablo Cupul (8-17, 5 KO’s) of San Diego, in a Bantamweight bout.
In 4-round Bouts:
Kevin Garcia (1-1) of Phoenixville, PA will fight Jack Grady (0-1) of Buffalo in a Lightweight bout.
Hafiz Montgomery of Atlantic City, NJ will make his pro debut against Brian Donahue (3-12-2) of Philadelphia in a Cruiserweight bout.
Samuel Quinones (8-3, 3 KO’s) of York, PA battles Shiwone Gortman (4-7-1, 2 KO’s) of Grand Prairie, MI in a Welterweight bout.
The show will be shown live on www.gfl.tv
Tickets are priced at $100, $75 and $50 and can purchased at ticketmaster and www.ticketmaster.com
The 1st bout will start at 6:45 PM with the doors opening at 6 PM.
