Leo Santa Cruz vs. Abner Mares: Winner, Scorecard and Reaction
To become a three-time world champion, Leo "El Terremoto" Santa Cruz (31-0-1) had to beat one.
On Saturday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Santa Cruz remained undefeated and became the WBA Super world featherweight champion by way of a majority-decision win over Abner Mares (29-2-1) in a much-anticipated clash.
ESPN's Dan Rafael has the official scorecards, and a suggestion:
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Why does Rafael want a rematch? Because there was no shortage of action in this one. Santa Cruz threw 1,057 punches and Mares launched 980, per CompuBox.
Santa Cruz used a size advantage and jab to control the latter two-thirds of the bout, and that's what ultimately won him the fight. According to the referenced CompuBox numbers, Santa Cruz out-landed Mares 373-227, and he connected at a higher rate (35 percent to 23).
Early in the fight, Mares came out the aggressor. He pressed the action and seemed to catch Santa Cruz off guard with his relentless attack. This approach had Mares in good shape after the first two rounds, but it also set a pace he was unable to maintain.
Santa Cruz would make the adjustment in the fourth round as he began to take control of the fight with his jab and superior balance. By the sixth round, Santa Cruz's ever-increasing punch output, and the effects of a cut from a headbutt in the third round, had drastically slowed Mares down.
The latter was still throwing punches, but not with the zip or the frequency he had in the first two rounds.
During the PBC on ESPN post-fight interview, Santa Cruz was asked if he was surprised by Mares' early pressure. He said, "Yeah, he surprised me. He came straight out and tried to knock me out like I thought. But we figured him out and we got the win."
Mares' attempts to clinch and throw punches began to look desperate and less effective with each passing round. Santa Cruz did the better work every time the fighters were disengaged. As Santa Cruz became more comfortable, those instances were more frequent.
In his PBC on ESPN interview, Mares said he thought he won but acknowledged it was "a close fight."
I scored the fight 116-112 for Santa Cruz, but there were a few close rounds in the fight that could have been scored either way. That explains why Bleacher Report's Kevin McRae took some exception to the wide margin of victory on two of the judges' scorecards.
Even with that discrepancy, most would seemingly agree Santa Cruz proved himself to be the better man in this one. Neither fighter showed the ability to hurt his opponent, but the volume of punches and both men's conditioning were impressive.
Santa Cruz has several options after his big win Saturday night. He's technically still the WBC super bantamweight champion, though it wouldn't be a shock to see him move to featherweight permanently.
If he stays at featherweight, a cross-promotional bout between him and Vasyl Lomachenko or Nicholas Walters would be a fight fan's dream. If he stays in the PBC/Al Haymon family, a rematch with Mares makes the most sense.
Mares' best course of action might be a rematch or a clash with newly crowned WBC champion Gary Russell Jr. A win over Santa Cruz or Russell Jr. would not only give him his fourth world title, but it would also restore the respect he may have lost with his second career defeat.
If he were to fight smarter and look to box early in a rematch with Santa Cruz, perhaps he could create a better result. Because of the level of excitement this fight brought to fans, I wouldn't bet against seeing a rematch in 2016.
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