Fight Club: Leo Santa Cruz unlikely to have seen last of Abner Mares

Andy Lewis 08:25 31/08/2015
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  • Mexican magic: Leo Santa Cruz (r) throws a big right hand at Abner Mares.

    True Mexican boxing rivalries are rarely settled at the first time of asking so it is very possible we will see a second instalment of Leo Santa Cruz versus Abner Mares.

    If hostilities do indeed resume next year then they will do so with Santa Cruz 1-0 in front following his impressive split decision victory in Los Angeles on Saturday night.

    Okay, it wasn’t perhaps as mind-blowingly intense as an episode of Marco Antonio Barrera’s trilogy with Erik Morales or as jaw-droppingly exciting as Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez’s electric four-fight saga, but that’s not to say there was any shortage of entertainment at the Staples Center.

    The stats alone tell you this was an absolute cracker. 

    Between them, the two fighters unloaded a mammoth total of 2,031 punches (Santa Cruz 1,057, Mares 980) with 599 landing. 

    Early on it was frantic, full-blooded and fought at a dizzying pace with Mares’ early aggression ensuring the action quickly came to the boil.

    His all-out attack approach robbed Santa Cruz of any early rhythm with him unable to assert his trademark jab. 

    But unfortunately for Mares it was simply unsustainable, and by the middle rounds Santa Cruz was fully in control with his jab functioning beuatifully and his foe an increasingly easy target. 

    In the end, two judges had it a little wide at 177-111 with the third having it too close at 114-114. 

    The reality was somewhere in between and, although some of the sessions were tight and hard to score, you were left with the distinct feeling Santa Cruz had won it by two or three rounds. 

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    Afterwards Mares, whose record now stands at 29 wins, two defeats and one draw, admitted his gung-ho start had backfired.

    “I think I made a mistake in my strategy,” he explained. 

    “I came out strong and my corner was telling me to slow down, and I wanted to go as fast I as I could and I think I should have stuck with my gut. 

    “Initially, my plan was to box him, but I started out really hard. 

    “Nothing surprised me about Leo. I knew what I was up against.

    “He’s good. He’s a great fighter. I knew it was going to be a tough fight. That’s it. I will 100 per cent take a rematch.

    “I’d be more than willing to do a rematch. He knows it was a close fight. That’s why he said that. 

    “Again, all my respect. I respect fighters. I knew he had never faced a level of fighter like me. He proved he’s a great fighter, and that’s that.”

    The good news for Mares is that Santa Cruz is game. 

    The unbeaten 27-year-old, now with 31 wins and a draw (over four rounds in his second pro fight) on his record, picked up the vacant WBA featherweight title in LA to become, like Mares, a three-division champ. 

    A fan’s dream fight for the Al Haymon-backed fighter would be against WBO champion Vasyl Lomachenko, but the Ukrainian’s Top Rank contract would almost definitely rule that out. 

    Britain’s Lee Selby, the IBF title holder, was sat ringside but perhaps lacks the profile to be a serious alternative to a Mares rematch.

    The WBC’s champion, Gary Russell Jr, also on Haymon’s roster, is an option, but Santa Cruz wasn’t looking beyond his fellow Mexican in the immediate aftermath on Saturday.

    “If he wants the rematch, I’ll give him the rematch. Whatever the fans want,” Santa Cruz said. 

    “I want to fight the big fights for the fans.”

    Of his triumph, Santa Cruz, who also holds the WBC super bantamweight title, added:  “When I was trying to jab, I hit him with the right and the jab. We knew we could take control.

    “My dad [and trainer Jose Santa Cruz] taught me how to beat him by boxing. It’s what we did in the gym. We boxed. We like to give the fans great fights but we knew that we could outbox him so that’s what we did.”

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