Leo Santa Cruz vs. Kiko Martinez: Winner, Recap and Reaction

Leo Santa Cruz looked the part of a champion in his first successful defense of the WBA Super World featherweight title, surviving a spirited challenge from Kiko Martinez en route to a fifth-round TKO victory on Saturday night at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

Santa Cruz (32-0-1, 18 KOs) notched two knockdowns in the first round, but the determined Martinez (35-7, 26 KOs) showed plenty of heart and turned the fight into an all-out war.

However, speed, power and skill won out in the end, as Santa Cruz caught Martinez on the ropes in the fourth round and unloaded a barrage of punches before the official stepped in to stop the bout. 

Showtime Sports has a look at the end of the bout: 

Saturday Night Boxing's Adam Abramowitz complemented Santa Cruz on finishing off the bout: 

Bad Left Hook was pleased with the action: 

Santa Cruz, perhaps looking for broader appeal outside of his native Los Angeles, has previously expressed an interest in taking on the winner of the Carl Frampton-Scott Quigg bout, which Frampton won earlier on Saturday. Santa Cruz confirmed those wishes after his convincing win, per Showtime Sports: 

After winning the vacant WBA title against fellow-Angeleno Abner Mares in an all-out war in August 2015, Martinez was something of an underwhelming first choice for a title defense.

Martinez had clear disadvantages in height and reach, lost to both Frampton and Quigg in his most recent high-profile bouts and was even fighting without his regular trainer in attendance.

However, the 29-year-old made up for all this by forcing Santa Cruz to box his heart out for as long as the fight lasted.

Martinez came charging at Santa Cruz right from the opening bell—a strategy that played right into the hardworking Santa Cruz's hands.

Santa Cruz dropped Martinez to the canvas early with a hard right hook to the chin, but the Spaniard popped up quickly and came right back at him after the eight-count.

He tried to get inside on Santa Cruz, but he couldn't work his way through the barrage of punches. Santa Cruz notched a second knockdown with just over a minute left in the first round, courtesy of a left hook followed swiftly by a straight right to the chin.

Bad Left Hook commented on Martinez's strategy: 

Santa Cruz threw 142 punches in the first round, per SHO Stats.

To Martinez's credit, he staggered Santa Cruz within seconds of the second-round bell, stunting the champion's momentum. Martinez did well to get Santa Cruz on the ropes briefly in the second and bloodied his nose in the third, but the stats remained in the Mexican-American's favor, per SHO Stats: 

Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times noted Santa Cruz's punches were lacking power in the third round: 

Santa Cruz continued to eat away at Martinez, holding up well on the back foot by using his superior length to catch Martinez before he could get inside. Eventually, the punishment caught up to Martinez, and Santa Cruz finished him with a relentless barrage of punches in the fifth round. 

With this win, it's clear Santa Cruz has to step up the competition if he is to earn more respect from fight fans. He's proven himself to be an entertaining draw with his all-action style, but the quality of his opponents has mostly suffered.

He recently expressed his desire to consolidate his power in the featherweight and super bantamweight ranks.

"We’re hoping to fight at least three times,” Santa Cruz said, per the Orange County Register's Damian Calhoun. “If everything goes right (next weekend), I want to call out the winner of Scott Quigg-Carl Frampton, (IBF champion) Lee Selby, WBA champion (Jesus) Cuellar, (WBC champion) Gary Russell...there are some good opponents out there.”

According to the Los Angeles Times' Lance Pugmire, Showtime executive vice president Stephen Espinoza did say a bout with WBO featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko would evoke interest.

“Unification fights would be perhaps the most attractive option for any of the top fighters,” he said, per Pugmire.

Santa Cruz is a three-time champion and has expressed a desire to pack on pounds to his lanky frame and move up to higher weight classes. However, he still has work to do in and around the featherweight division.

Considering Frampton's win over Quigg lacked action, Santa Cruz's next best step from a prestige standpoint might be Lomachenko. Guillermo Rigondeaux is also lurking, but few boxers seem interested in taking him on.