Ranking the Best Opponents for Leo Santa Cruz's Next Fight
Leo Santa Cruz arrived at Staples Center on Saturday night in search of validation.
And by the time he left the building a few hours later, he was in possession of it.
The 27-year-old Mexican, already a world champion in two weight classes, officially announced his arrival at 126 pounds with a grinding majority decision over former featherweight kingpin Abner Mares before an announced crowd of more than 13,000 in downtown Los Angeles.
Now 31-0-1 in a nine-year pro career, Santa Cruz was given a 117-111 nod by two of the three official judges, while the third scored it even at 114-114. Bleacher Report agreed with the majority, giving the winner nine of 12 rounds—including every round after the fourth.
"He came straight out and he wanted to knock me out, like I thought," Santa Cruz told ESPN's Bernardo Osuna after the fight, referring to Mares' frenetic early-round pace.
"We figured him out. We knew it would take its toll."
Indeed, Santa Cruz capitalized once Mares slowed. El Terremoto gradually took control with a strong left jab, punishing combinations and the willingness to stand in and counterpunch as his opponent came forward.
"My dad told me we'd beat him boxing," Santa Cruz said. "We like to give the fans a great fight, but we needed to box him."
Mares, a former champion at 118, 122 and 126 pounds, suggested that he thought he deserved a close verdict, but he instead lost for the second time in five fights after beginning his career on a 26-0-1 tear.
"It was a close fight. I honestly thought I won the fight," he told ESPN's Todd Grisham. "I thought I pulled it off. What can I say?"
The win puts Santa Cruz in the running for myriad big fights in his newest weight class, though several of them seem iffy thanks to the ever-present promotional issues from athlete to athlete.
So with that as a pre-list grain of salt, we put together our collection of the six we'd most like to see regardless of those obstacles. If we're lucky, maybe at least some of these fights can get made.
Feel free to leave your views in the comments section.
6. Nonito Donaire
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Perhaps we can file this one alongside Guillermo Rigondeaux when it comes to Santa Cruz fights that had a far better chance to get made at 122 pounds than at 126 pounds.
But though he’s lost two of his last six and impressed nearly no one since winning Fighter of the Year honors from the Boxing Writers Association of America in 2012, Nonito Donaire still has a name.
He’s won two straight as a super bantamweight since getting pole-axed by featherweight Nicholas Walters 10 months ago. He claimed after the first of those two victories—over William Prado in March—that he was still ready to compete with the likes of Santa Cruz and Rigondeaux.
Santa Cruz is still listed as the WBC’s titleholder at 122, though it seems featherweight is his full-time future.
“With my power and everything that I have, I did feel that I was above that level," Donaire said in a post-fight press conference. "We got to see where I'm at in terms of my ability, and I feel like I'm still at that elite level. I can still compete with guys like Rigondeaux and Santa Cruz.”
After Saturday's legitimacy statement from Santa Cruz, don't count on this one unless Donaire decides to move up again.
5. Gary Russell Jr.
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Ironically, the last thing Gary Russell Jr. probably wanted to see Saturday night was a competitive action fight between Santa Cruz and Mares that would leave fans enthusiastic about a second go-round.
But that's exactly what he got, which means his own prospects for fighting Santa Cruz have probably dipped a bit. Nevertheless, it's a prospect he remains interested in.
“I’m not sure who’s going to pull out the win between Abner Mares and Leo Santa Cruz,” Russell said to Boxing News before Saturday's fight. “I see Abner as the better fighter between the two. However, Leo might overwhelm Abner with a lot of pressure. Of course, I’d like to fight the winner of that bout.”
Russell completed one of the sport's most marked resurrections over the course of nine months from June 2014 to March 2015. He initially lost a wide decision to Vasyl Lomachenko for the vacant WBO featherweight title before rebounding to wrest the WBC's 126-pound belt from Jhonny Gonzalez.
The convincing loss to Lomachenko in the Ukrainian's third pro fight left many describing Russell as an over-hyped and over-protected prospect. But the workmanlike destruction of Gonzalez—who was defending the belt he'd taken from Mares—got him back into the sport's good graces.
The WBC championship is surely an attractive lure for Santa Cruz, and the fact that both he and Russell are part of the Al Haymon camp means it's a fight that can happen if everyone wants it.
4. Guillermo Rigondeaux
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OK, maybe this is one that Santa Cruz—or, more accurately, Al Haymon—doesn’t want.
But that doesn’t mean the rest of us shouldn’t.
The summit meeting of 122-pound champs seemed imminent earlier this year when promoter Oscar De La Hoya began negotiating for it on Santa Cruz’s behalf. But once the Mexican went all-in with the cadre of Haymon-affiliated fighters who officially left the Golden Boy family, the match was dead in the water.
Now that Santa Cruz has established himself as a viable commodity in his third division, it seems even more unlikely that he and the Cuban stylist will get together anytime soon.
But if Rigondeaux eventually realizes, too, that his financial bread can be more tastefully buttered at 126 pounds than 122, it’ll remain one that makes sense down the road.
“He’s a great fighter. He can make a fighter look bad, but he's not invincible,” Santa Cruz told FightHype.com. “I think I could beat him. Hopefully, everything goes good and then he can move up in weight and we can make that.”
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3. Nicholas Walters
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Nicholas Walters is clearly a smart guy when it comes to managing his career.
Though he failed to make weight for a 126-pound title defense in June and compromised his championship status because of it, he’s decided sacrificing to make featherweight is still better than ballooning up to compete in a division that far fewer people care about.
That decision conceivably keeps him in the mix for a match with Santa Cruz, though the fact that Walters is handled by Top Rank and Santa Cruz is steered by Al Haymon won’t help matters any.
Those camps only mingle if super big money (see: Mayweather vs. Pacquiao) is on the table.
But if Walters ultimately tests promotional waters elsewhere—he has one fight left on a deal with Bob Arum—this could be a tasty main event. Walters is a big featherweight who can bang, and Santa Cruz seems programmed to fight only in come-forward mode and has now beaten top-shelf competition.
Santa Cruz mentioned Walters' name specifically in the run-up to Mares, though he couched the call-out with the cliched "my promoter calls the shots" script.
“It’s not up just to me,” he told Fight Hub TV (via MMA-Core.com). “It’s up to my whole team. They know what’s good for my career.”
Maybe not next, but ultimately this one would be better than good.
2. Vasyl Lomachenko
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Five fights in, and Vasyl Lomachenko is already a guy everybody wants.
Or, he's at least a guy they should want if they desire billing as the best of the featherweights.
The Ukrainian has bounced back from an iffy loss to Orlando Salido to win three straight fights, solidify his hold on the WBO's 126-pound title and establish himself as the man through which all No. 1 claims in the division must travel. That latter fact alone makes him the most fan-desirable opponent for Santa Cruz.
The two men appeared on the same stage as separate warm-up acts for Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao on May 2 in Las Vegas, but because they, too, are aligned with Bob Arum and Al Haymon, respectively, the idea that they'll share the ring is more fleeting than firm.
Lomachenko took a veiled shot at Santa Cruz's decision to leave Golden Boy and go all-in with Haymon, which seems—at least for the time being—to be a significant obstacle to the fight ever happening.
Nevertheless, it's a good thing to dream about.
"Boxing is a sport and a business, but to some people boxing is only a business," Lomachenko told Ring Magazine. "For me I can say it’s a sport. I love boxing for the sport of competing against the best. I want to fight the fighters who will challenge me. I have shown that I only want big fights. Unfortunately it’s not always possible. Other people just see this as a business."
1. Abner Mares
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There were 2,031 punches thrown across 36 minutes. More than 500 power shots landed.
And the action was competitive enough throughout for one judge to call matters even.
So if anyone takes to social media demanding an immediate rematch between Santa Cruz and his Saturday night foil—Abner Mares—based on entertainment value, it’s doubtful that he'll be shouted down as a heretic.
In fact, while keeping with a silly theme that the fight was payback to fans after the springtime disaster that was Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, ESPN play-by-plan man Joe Tessitore went ahead and suggested a trilogy.
He never mentioned ESPN fell over itself to cover the May pay-per-view while the Santa Cruz-Mares match wasn't even worthy of lead status on SportsCenter on its network—but hey, it was a good fight.
“If he wants a rematch, we’ll give him a rematch,” Santa Cruz told ESPN’s Bernardo Osuna. “I want the big fights.”
And Mares, who thought he’d deserved the nod even though two judges scored nine rounds against him, seemed happy that the option was offered.
“He’s good. He’s a great fighter. I knew he was going to be,” he told ESPN’s Todd Grisham. “I’m more than willing for a rematch. I knew he never faced a level like me. He proved he was a great fighter.”
Given the headaches that making other good matches would cause, and the good vibes provided by a consistently entertaining 12-round encounter, doing it again makes more sense than anything else.
Another win over Mares couldn't hurt the Santa Cruz resume. And if Abner were to somehow even the score, Tessitore might just get what he asked for after all.
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