Santillan (35-1, 18 KOs) is set to face WBA junior middleweight titleholder Abass Baraou (17-2, 9 KOs) on Friday at Frontwave Arena in Oceanside, California, to headline a ProBox TV card on YouTube.

The winner will remain in the thick of the mix in the star-studded 154-pound division. The loser will be relegated one step closer to becoming a gatekeeper for the next up-and-coming contender.

"This is a very meaningful fight for me – the importance is huge," Santillan told The Ring. "I've been wanting another opportunity like this ever since losing to Brian Norman. I plan on taking full advantage of this because everything is on the line for my career."

Santillan, 31, leveraged the career-best win against Rocha in October 2023 to a homecoming fight in San Diego against Norman seven months later, but was brutally knocked out in the 10th round of a fight he was losing on the scorecards. Norman took the WBO interim belt and was later elevated to full champion once Terence Crawford left the division.

The Robert Garcia-trained Santillan has rebounded from the Norman loss with consecutive wins against Fredrick Lawson, Angel Villa and Courtney Pennington. The Pennington fight took place in January in Puerto Rico on the same night Baraou lost his WBA title to Xander Zayas by split decision in a 154-pound title unification bout.

"Xander was in control for most of the fight against Baraou, and I thought it was a clear win, but the judges saw it closer than I did," Santillan said. "Baraou seems to be the type of fighter that keeps a high guard the whole fight and comes forward. He wants to get on the inside and get to work to make it a tough fight. It seems like he gets a little frustrated when you move on him, but he's gonna keep putting that pressure on."

Santillan sports a crowd-pleasing style that his hometown faithful should enjoy (he's fighting 40 minutes away from home in Oceanside). But he's also ready to make it a more technical tilt if that's what's required to get the victory against The Ring's No. 9-rated junior middleweight contender.

"I'm a come-forward type of fighter myself," Santillan said. "I also have other skills that I don't think I've really displayed, and I know I can show, like moving around and working angles around an opponent. I think this is the type of fight where I can bring that out and show a little bit more of that. But once the fight happens, things change, and you have to make adjustments. I'm willing to give him any kind of fight that it needs to be."

Baraou, meanwhile, is looking to prove he still has it in yet another fight on enemy soil following his failed title defense.

"I've had great performances in San Diego, but that fight against Norman, the pressure did get to me a little bit with everything being on the line," Santillan said. "I made a lot of mistakes in that fight that I've learned from, and I am more defensively responsible. That's what I need to bring in more against Baraou.

"I think a win against Baraou and looking good is huge for me and my standing in the division. I look at it very similarly to the Rocha fight. That fight got me noticed at 147 pounds, and I feel like this fight is going to get me noticed at 154 pounds."