While Santana doesn’t care which champion his first title shot comes against, the seeds have already been planted for a potential clash against Bruce Carrington.

Santana hopes to face the WBC featherweight champion in the near future. Any chance of that materializing for Santana depends on him staying undefeated when he faces Cristian Cruz Chacon on May 16 on the undercard of Keyshawn Davis versus Nahir Albright II at Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia, on DAZN.

“It would be the fight of my life,” Santana told The Ring. “I have already visualized it a lot. It would be impressive at Madison Square Garden — Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico versus Brooklyn. It would be a great night. The fighter who is best prepared will win. I hope he gives me the opportunity, because he knows that I'm coming for him, but I have to wait for them. They're the ones who need to give me that opportunity.”

Santana (16-0, 13 KOs) and Carrington (17-0, 10 KOs) have already done some verbal sparring. They fought on the same card on July 26 in New York, and during the pre-fight press conference, Santana called for a fight against Carrington.

Santana, 26, won every round on the judges’ scorecards in his decision victory over Aaron Lopez Alameda. Carrington, 29, of Brooklyn, New York, also won a dominant unanimous decision against Mateus Heita to win the interim WBC featherweight title. He became the full titlist with a ninth-round knockout of Carlos Castro on January 31.

“I've had some beef with Bruce Carrington,” Santana said. “We faced each other in person. We had some back-and-forth at a press conference. I would like to fight Bruce Carrington.”

Santana, of La Romana, Dominican Republic, is ranked No. 7 by the WBO. He’s coming off a fifth-round stoppage of Alexis Eduardo Molina Jimenez on November 15 in Puerto Rico.

Chacon (24-7-2, 12 KOs), of Comitan, Chiapas, Mexico, has fought most of his career in his home country. He lost five of his first seven fights before winning 15 straight.

Chacon, 29, fought to a split draw against Muhammad Yaqubov in his last fight in November.

“I will be the king of this division,” Santana said. ”I'm just waiting for the opportunity. After this fight, I want to send a message. First, I want to win, of course, God willing, but then I'm going to send a message to the champions and tell them that I'm ready for that opportunity at a world title.”