Why Leo Santa Cruz vs. Abner Mares Is a Must-Win for Both Fighters

Boxing fans will be treated to the ultimate in high-stakes grudge matches Saturday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles when Leo Santa Cruz meets his compatriot Abner Mares in a fight that each man absolutely must win.

The fight will be the main event of Premier Boxing Champions on ESPN, and unlike many of the lukewarm or mismatched fights that have often been produced by Al Haymon’s big-money foray into mainstreaming boxing, Santa Cruz vs. Mares seems destined to deliver the goods.

Both are high-octane Mexican bangers who like to get into the trenches and overwhelm their opponents with activity and aggression. Mares has the capability of boxing smartly and countering, yes, but something says that’s not how this fight will be won.

No, fans of technical boxing need not apply here.

Well, they should, but they should know what to expect.

This one should be a fight with national pride and perhaps the future of each man’s career (which seem to be heading in opposite directions) hanging in the balance.

If you tune in—and you probably should—you have every right to expect the type of blockbuster fight with high stakes that was promised when Haymon took his 200-plus fighters and boatloads of investor cash to major television networks and cable providers.

Santa Cruz can be a force of nature in the ring.

The 27-year-old captured world championships at bantamweight (after Mares vacated) and super bantamweight while establishing himself as an action fighter in the Mexican tradition capable of becoming a huge box-office draw.

But Santa Cruz has developed a perception problem—a big one.

His 2013 title-winning demolition of Victor Terrazas (he destroyed his right eye over three brutally one-sided rounds) seemed to herald the arrival of a new sensation.

The sky seemed the limit, but then Santa Cruz, or his manager Haymon—take your pick—sent the fighter into the boxing equivalent of the witness protection program.

Santa Cruz took five fights after the Terrazas wipeout, beating one former world champion well past his best days (Cristian Mijares) and four woefully overmatched opponents who roughly equate to the type of guy you could pull off the street on fight night.

Seriously: Cesar Seda, Manuel Roman, Jesus Ruiz and Jose Cayetano?

Bonus points to any of you who were familiar with any of those guys before they became Santa Cruz victims, but that’s an inexcusable lot for a rising star who fights in and around weight divisions brimming with top-shelf talent.

Santa Cruz had the opportunity to face fellow titlist Guillermo Rigondeaux earlier in the year.

His then-promoter Oscar De La Hoya opened negotiations for the fight, which Santa Cruz repeatedly stated he wanted, only to see the plug pulled when the fighter and Haymon executed a buyout in his contract, which effectively pulled the rug out from under the fight and ended his relationship with Golden Boy Promotions.

You can read anything you wish into that decision.

The point here is that Santa Cruz has a lot to prove and a lot of ground to make up if he wants fans to view him (once again) as a rising superstar and not some guy who beats up cab drivers in the hopes of not getting exposed.

A loss here (particularly if it’s a bad one) would do him no favors in silencing those who subscribe to the latter theory of his development track.

With a win, most—if not all—sins will be forgiven.

Mares has plenty of his own problems to handle.

He had a tremendous run between 2010 and 2013, beating a slew of upper-tier fighters and winning world championships in three weight divisions.

The Guadalajara product was rocketing up many pound-for-pound lists when he signed on to face former world champion Jhonny Gonzalez (the main event on the night Santa Cruz beat Terrazas) in a fight that seemed relatively safe.

Gonzalez was a big puncher in his day, but a career filled with taxing wars seemed to leave him on a downward slide.

We say it a lot, but that’s why they don’t fight the fights on paper.

Gonzalez blitzed Mares, dropping him twice in the opening frame and ending affairs before the end of the round in one of 2013’s biggest upsets.

Mares hasn’t been the same fighter since, and we don't know if he ever will be again.

He stayed on the shelf for nearly a year before returning under the tutelage of defense-oriented trainer Virgil Hunter and looking downright underwhelming in carefully (not his style) dispatching the so-so Jonathan Oquendo.

It didn’t take long for the Hunter experiment to prove a failure, and he was unceremoniously dumped and replaced with longtime coach Clemente Medina after the Oquendo fight.

Mares has since demolished Jose Ramirez and then struggled to a wide-but-uninspiring decision win over unheralded Arturo Santos Reyes on the second-tier portion of the inaugural PBC card in March.

Whether he’s a shot fighter (sometimes it only takes one bad night) or just wasn’t motivated by nondescript opposition remains the big question.

If it's the former, Santa Cruz will walk right through him.

If it's the latter, and if Mares can prove the doubters wrong, we might have one hell of a fight on our hands.

But, first, he has to show he can still be that guy.