One of the most anticipated Stateside rematches of the year takes place Saturday night as two Californian all-action volume punchers once again plan to battle it out for featherweight supremacy.
At Staples Center, home of the Los Angeles Lakers, Abner Mares (31-2-1, 15 KO’s) aims to avenge his 2015 majority decision loss to Leo Santa Cruz (34-1-1, 19 KO’s), and reclaim the WBA featherweight championship in the process.
Since their thrilling first encounter, Santa Cruz lost the title in 2016 and subsequently regained it in 2017 to Northern Ireland’s Carl Frampton by the narrowest of margins, with respective majority decisions going either way.
Indeed, negotiations for a rubber match to settle the score have been complicated by Santa Cruz’s professed reluctance to travel to Belfast – where Frampton enjoys immense popular support – coupled with Frampton’s recent promotional difficulties that effectively forced a protracted absence from the ring.
Nevertheless, a rematch with Mares still retains some traction despite most observers believing that Santa Cruz was the deserved winner in a close, competitive first bout that saw over two thousand punches exchanged.
Despite the quintessentially Mexican approach that he has exhibited in certain fights, Santa Cruz is a deceptively proficient outside fighter and adept at using his height, range and speed to frustrate his opponents – as Carl Frampton discovered to his detriment in their January 2017 rematch.
If he can prevail more definitively over Mares this time – as many expect him to do – Santa Cruz has the opportunity to unify against the excellent, yet enigmatic, WBC champion Gary Russell Jr, who himself is fresh off a twelve round masterclass against Golden Boy’s previously undefeated contender Joseph Diaz.
An all-Mexican showdown with WBO featherweight champion Oscar Valdez – currently convalescing after a gruelling war of attrition with an egregiously overweight Scott Quigg – would almost certainly generate huge numbers in the Southern Californian area.
Nevertheless, a Santa Cruz-Valdez “super fight” remains unlikely; especially when taking into consideration the seemingly intractable promotional divides that surround it.
Ultimately, the prospect of a Santa Cruz-Frampton trilogy also appear to be more distant than ever following Josh Warrington’s resounding victory over then-IBF champion Lee Selby; the latter appears poised to face his domestic rival from Leeds sometime in the foreseeable future.
Article by: Navi Singh
You can follow Navi on Twitter at: @hombre__obscuro