Léo Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz made his professional debut, at the age of 18 on 13 October 2006 against Mexican boxer Pedro Silva, winning the fight via knockout in round 2. After drawing his second bout in January 2007 against Rodrigo Hernandez, Santa Cruz went on to win his next thirteen fights, with five coming by stoppage. On 21 October 2010 Santa Cruz beat the veteran James Owens at the Martin's Valley Mansion in Cockeysville, Maryland.[7] In March 2011, Santa Cruz knocked out the veteran Stephane Jamoye to win the vacant WBC Youth bantamweight championship.[8]

In April 2012, promoter Branco Milenkovic announced that a deal was set for Santa Cruz to fight South African boxer Vusi Malinga (20-3-1, 12 KOs) for the vacant IBF bantamweight title. The fight was slated for 2 June at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. The IBF title was left vacant when then-champion Abner Mares moved up in weight.[9] Santa Cruz beat Malinga via unanimous decision to win the IBF bantamweight title. The bout was televised on a Showtime boxing card. Two judges scored Santa Cruz the clear winner with scorecards of 120-108 and the third judge gave Malinga one round, scoring the fight 119–109. The fight started off with both boxers trying to out land each other, with Santa Cruz landing the cleaner and power shots. Malinga was hurt numerous times during the fight, but kept coming forward.[10][11][12]

In August 2012, it was announced that Santa Cruz would make the first defence of his IBF title on the undercard of Saul Álvarez vs. Josesito López on 15 September at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada. His first defence was rumoured to be against former two-time world champion Eric Morel (46-3, 23 KOs).[13] On fight night, Santa Cruz wore down Morel with body shots, dominating the fight from the opening bell, forcing Morel to quit on his stool before round 6 began.[14] CompuBox stats showed that Santa Cruz landed 66% of his power punches. In total, over five rounds, Santa Cruz landed 277 punches of 509 thrown (54%) and Morel landed 73 of his 344 thrown (21%).[15][16]

On 29 October 2012 a deal was reached for Santa Cruz to make a second defence of his IBF title at the Staples Center in Los Angeles against Mexican boxer Victor Zaleta (20-2-1, 10 KOs) on a double header featuring WBC super bantamweight champion Abner Mares vs. Anselmo Moreno on 10 November. The card was to be shown live on Showtime.[17] Santa Cruz dropped Zaleta three times en route to a TKO victory in round 9 to retain his IBF title. Santa Cruz started the fight the better boxer and began working the body immediately. Zaleta was dropped following a body shot in round 4, again in round 7 following a combination of shots to the head and body and the final knockdown in round 9, again from a combination forced the referee to stop the fight.[18]

On 2 December 2012 Golden Boy Promotions announced a double-header which would take place on CBS at the Los Angeles Sports Arena on 15 December where Santa Cruz would make his third defence in four months against unbeaten Mexican boxer Alberto Guevara (16-0, 6 KOs). The last time CBS aired live boxing was 15 years prior in January 1997 when Bernard Hopkins stopped Glen Johnson.[19] The fight was one-sided as Santa Cruz went on to win a unanimous decision to retain his IBF title. Santa Cruz, who was known to have a high punch output did not throw as much as his previous bouts but did enough for the three judges to score the fight 116–112, 118–110, and 119–109 in his favour.[20][21] Santa Cruz explained the reason for the lower output was because he felt he had fought a lot recently.[22] According to CompuBox Stats, Santa Cruz landed 291 of 989 punches thrown (29%) and Guevara landed 158 of his 793 thrown (20%).[23] Santa Cruz finished the year with 5 wins including 3 title defenses.[24]

On 12 February 2013, Santa Cruz vacated his IBF bantamweight belt to move up to junior featherweight.[25]

Santa Cruz had his first fight at the super bantamweight limit on the undercard of the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Robert Guerrero Showtime Pay-Per-View on 5 May 2013 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The fight was officially announced in March along with the rest of the undercard. Santa Cruz was originally scheduled to fight Rafael Márquez, but he pulled out due to injury. Venezuelan veteran, former super flyweight world champion Alexander Muñoz (36-4, 28 KOs) stepped in.[26] Santa Cruz won the vacant NABF super bantamweight title after stopping Muñoz in round 5. The fight started out with both boxers trading blow, but it was Santa Cruz who was landing the harder and cleaner shots. Muñoz was dropped at the end of round 3 and then nearly went down again in the next round. After taking more punishment from the bigger Santa Cruz, Muñoz's trainer stopped the fight.[27][28] Santa Cruz landed 52% of his total punches thrown which included 57 body shots.[29][30]

On 18 June 2013 Golden Boy announced that Santa Cruz was the mandatory challenger with the WBC and would challenge Mexican boxer Victor Terrazas (37-2-1, 21 KOs) for his WBC super bantamweight title at the StubHub Center in Carson, California on 24 August. The fight would mark Terrazas' first title defence since winning the then-vacant title in April 2013 against Cristian Mijares.[31] Golden Boy won the rights to promote the fight at the purse bids when they bid $526,000, more than the $451,000 which came from Zanfer Promotions. With Terrazas the champion, due 75%, meaning he would come out with $368,200 and Santa Cruz will get remaining $157,800.[32] Santa Cruz beat Terrazas via a 3rd-round TKO to become a two-weight world champion.[33] Santa Cruz started off quick immediately forcing Terrazas to fight on the back foot. Terrazas was able to fight back but was getting hit a lot in the process. By the end of round 2, Terrazas' right eye began to close due to the offence output of Santa Cruz. In round 3, Santa Cruz dropped Terrazas twice and although he beat the count each time, the referee waved off the fight after the second knockdown.[34] Santa Cruz landed 78 of 267 punches thrown (29%) and Terrazas landed 33 of his 156 thrown (21%). Santa Cruz was credited with landed 33 power shots in round 2.[35][36][Video 1]

Golden Boy initially tried to make Santa Cruz vs. Cristian Mijares for 2 November however negotiations broke down on 9 October. Instead a new deal was being formed for Santa Cruz to make his first voluntary defence against Cesar Seda (25-1, 17 KOs) on 14 December at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada on the undercard of the Showtime PPV Marcos Maidana vs. Adrien Broner for the WBA welterweight title.[37] The card was later taken off PPV, but would still be aired on Showtime and would take place at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.[38] Santa Cruz knocked Seda down once in the fifth-round as he went on to win a unanimous decision when the three judges scored it 117–110, 116–111, 115–112 in his favor. Despite the win, Santa Cruz was disappointing with his performance.[39][40] CompuBox Stats showed that Santa Cruz landed 297 of 829 punches thrown (36%) and Seda landed 170 of his 649 thrown (26%)[41]

On 9 January 2014 it was announced that Santa Cruz would finally meet veteran Mexican contender Cristian Mijares (49-7-2, 24 KOs), also his mandatory challenger at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada on 8 March, defending his WBC title. The fight would take place on the PPV undercard of Canelo vs. Angulo. For the fight, Santa Cruz would earn $500,000 and Mijares had a $92,000 purse.[42][43] The fight went the distance as Santa Cruz won on all three judges scorecards (120-108, 120–108, 119–109).[44] Santa Cruz showed respect in the post fight interview to Mijares, who he looked up to before he won his first world title, "Mijares is a great boxer. I came to do what I had to do to win. Mijares had great experience. He's a lefty. I had to be ready. We practiced everything to put on a great fight."[45] Santa Cruz landed 371 of 1043 punches thrown (36%) and Mijares landed 132 of his 574 thrown (23%).[46]

Santa Cruz made his next defence on 13 September at the MGM Grand on the Mayweather-Maidana II undercard against Mexican boxer Manuel Roman (17-2-3, 6 KOs) . He stopped Roman in round two to retain his world title.[47][48] After the fight, Santa Cruz said, "I did my job. That's what I came for. I'm not scared of anyone. I want Rigondeaux and I want my manager [Al Haymon] to make the fight to show I am the best."[49]

Three months later on 17 January 2015 Santa Cruz defended his WBC super bantamweight title against Jesus Ruiz (33-5-5, 22 KOs) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. The fight was announced a month earlier.[50][51] Santa Cruz was criticized for fighting another low-level regarded opponent prior to the fight. Santa Cruz landed 277 punches to 120 by Ruiz, landing powerful head shots to force the stoppage 29 seconds into the 8th round. At the time of stoppage, Santa Cruz was ahead on all three judges scorecards (69-63, 69–64, 69–64). Santa Cruz earned a purse of $750,000 compared to Ruiz's $50,000. He then defended himself in the post-fight interview, "It was a war, but we came prepared. He gave me a tough fight. We went after him and stopped him. I know he was prepared."[52][53]

Santa Cruz moved up to featherweight and fought his first fight on 2 May 2015. His opponent was announced as Mexican Jose Cayetano (17-3, 8 KOs) in a scheduled 10 round bout on the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao super fight undercard at the MGM Grand Arena. Santa Cruz won every round on all three judges scorecards (100-90, 3 times). Still undefeated, Santa Cruz boasted a record of 30 wins, no losses and 1 draw, with 17 inside the distance.[54]

On 3 July 2015 a deal was finally reached for Santa Cruz to challenge fellow Southern Californian Abner Mares (29-1-1, 15 KOs) for the vacant WBA (Super) featherweight and vacant WBC Diamond featherweight titles on 29 August at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.[55][56] Premier Boxing Champions confirmed the bout would take place on ESPN.[57] Santa Cruz won the fight via majority decision in a potential fight of the year candidate to win the vacant titles. With the win, Santa Cruz became a three-weight world champion. 13,109 fans were in attendance at the Staples Center. Judge Max Deluca had it a draw at 114-114 whilst judges Jesse Reyes and Steve Morrow scored it 117-111 for Santa Cruz.[58][59] "I was surprised Abner came out so strong. He came right at me but we figured him out and we got the win. I stayed outside with the jab. We were able to take control.", said Santa Cruz in the post fight interview.[60][61][62] The whole card averaged 1.217 million on ESPN and peaked towards the end at 1.641 million viewers. The figures were recorded as the highest on ESPN since 1998. The bout was also televised on Spanish-only network ESPN Deportes and averaged 355,000 viewers, another record.[63]

In January 2016, Showtime announced they would televise Santa Cruz's first defence against Kiko Martínez (35-6, 26 KOs), scheduled to take place on 28 February at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.[64] For the fight, Martínez replaced usual trainer Gabriel Sarmiento with well-known trainer Robert García.[65] Santa Cruz successfully retained his title by defeating Martínez via fifth-round TKO. Martínez was knocked down twice in Round 1, but beat the referee's count and continued to back Santa Cruz up in an entertaining slugfest. Both fighter combined threw over 1,000 punches in less than five full rounds. Santa Cruz hurt Martínez in round 5 when he cornered him and hurt him with right hands. Santa Cruz continued with a series of combinations until referee Raul Caiz Sr. jumped in at 2:09 as Martínez stopped throwing back. Santa Cruz landed 55% of his power punches.[66][67][68]

On 22 April 2016 negotiations were complete for Santa Cruz to defend his WBA (super) featherweight title against Carl Frampton (22-0, 14 KOs), who was moving up from super bantamweight on 30 July 2016 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.[69] In a potential fight of the year candidate, Santa Cruz lost his title to Frampton via a 12-round majority decision win before an crowd of 9,062. One judge scored it a 114–114 draw but the others made Frampton the winner, 116-112 and 117–111. Frampton had a higher accuracy rate, despite both fighters landing equal numbers of punches. According to CompuBox stats, Frampton landed 242 of 668 punches (36 percent), whilst Santa Cruz connected on 255 of 1,002 blows (25 percent). In the post fight, Frampton said he wanted to defend the title in his home city and did not want to rule out a rematch.[70][71] The fight averaged 480,000 and peaked at 549,000 viewers.[72]

A rematch was confirmed between Santa Cruz and Frampton in October to take place. Originally discussed to take place at Frampton's hometown of Belfast, the venue was confirmed to be at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on 28 January 2017. 10,085 were in attendance as Santa Cruz regained his title with a majority decision (114-114, 115–113, 115–113).[73] Santa Cruz and Frampton immediately discussed interest in a third fight, possibly in Frampton's hometown of Belfast.[74][75] Frampton earned a purse of $1 million compared to $900,000 that Santa Cruz received. In the post-fight, Santa Cruz said, "Before the fight I said I wanted revenge and I wanted to work hard. I went to the gym and I worked hard, and I did what I had to do. Carl Frampton is a good fighter. Let's make it a third fight!" Frampton only landed 133 of his 592 punches thrown (22%) whereas Santa Cruz landed 230 of his 884 thrown (26%).[76][77] Nielsen Media Research reported the fight averaged 587,000 and peaked at 643,000 viewers.[78]

On 3 April 2017 the World Boxing Association ordered a rematch between Santa Cruz and their "regular" champion Abner Mares (30-2-1, 15 KOs). This was done as part of WBA's ongoing plan to reduce the number of world titles. Mares became mandatory challenger and "regular" titleholder after winning a split decision against Argentine boxer Jesus Cuellar in December 2016.[79] Due to the negotiations taking too long, the WBA ordered a deal be made by 11 July 2017 or the fight would go to purse bids on 21 July. The fight was supposedly set for 9 September at the Staples Center, but nothing materialized.[80] Due to the Srisaket Sor Rungvisai–Roman González rematch taking place on the 9 September at the Stubhub Center in Carson, AEG, who own both venues said they would push the Santa Cruz-Mares rematch back to take place on 7 October instead.[81] On 18 August, it was announced that negotiations had broken down.[82]

On 25 August, Mares told Ringtv that he and Santa Cruz would still appear on the same card on 14 October on Fox. The fight would take place in the afternoon, on the same card Jermell Charlo defends his WBC light middleweight title against Erickson Lubin in the evening on Showtime. Advisor Al Haymon re-assured Mares that a rematch with Santa Cruz would still take place.[83] On 30 August, it was announced that Santa Cruz's opponent would be Chris Avalos, while Mares would fight Andrés Gutiérrez.[84] Avalos came into the fight with a 2–3 record in his last 5 fights since 2015.

In a one-sided beatdown, Santa Cruz stopped Avalos in the eighth round. The end came with Santa Cruz piling hurtful power shots on Avalos, when referee Thomas Taylor had seen enough, he stepped in at 1 minute, 34 seconds. Avalos never got started in the fight, which was all Santa Cruz. After a slow start in the opening round, Santa Cruz began to pick his power shots to the head and body. Avalos connected on his own shots, but lacked the power to hurt Santa Cruz.[85] Avalos was not happy with the stoppage, "I'm very upset with the stoppage. We were fighting the whole time. There was no reason to stop this fight. I wasn't hurt like the referee thought. I want to fight for the title again." Santa Cruz spoke about the game plan for the fight saying, "At the beginning, I wasn't doing what my corner was telling me. I was trying to please the fans. I wanted to give [the fans] a brawl, a toe-to-toe, my dad said, 'What are you doing, you are supposed to beat him from the outside' -- and that's what we did in the later rounds." CompuBox stats showed exactly how the fight went with Santa Cruz landing 281 of 692 punches thrown (41%) and Avalos landing 169 of 751 thrown (23%).[86] Mares was also victorious in his fight, setting up a rematch between himself and Santa Cruz.[87] The card averaged 1,483,000 viewers on Fox.[88]

Soon after stopping Avalos, talks re-emerged for the Santa Cruz vs. Mares fight. In December 2017, Ringstar Promotions' Richard Schaefer stated it's a fight both fighters wanted and the only detail to discuss was finding the best venue and date for the fight. A strong candidate for hosting the fight was the Staples Center in Los Angeles, the venue of the first fight.[89] On 24 January 2018 Showtime announced the fight would take place at the Staples Center on 9 June 2018.[90][91] The fight was made official on 2 April.[92] Santa Cruz defeated Mares via unanimous decision after 12 rounds to retain his WBA (Super) featherweight title. Santa Cruz outworked Mares using his powerful jab, right hand and left hooks. Mares connected with nice shots, but Santa Cruz was the busier boxer and continued to land the more powerful shots to win the rounds. The three judges scored the fight 115–113, 116-112 and 117–111 in favor of Santa Cruz. After the fight, Santa Cruz expressed interest in fighting WBC featherweight champion Gary Russell Jr. in a unification fight. He said "It was a great fight -- another war. I had to be smarter. ... Abner is a great fighter. He left his heart out there." He then added, "Hopefully I am [the best featherweight in the world]. But I leave it to the fans to say who is the best. ... I want Gary Russell. Let's unify. I'm not scared of anybody." According to CompuBox, Santa Cruz landed 357 of 1061 punches (34%) and Mares landed 208 of 931 (22%). CompuBox reported for the two fights combined, Santa Cruz landed 730 of 2115 punched thrown (35%) and Mares landed 434 of his 1908 thrown (23%). Combined they landed 1164 of a total 4023 punches thrown (29%) over the 24 rounds.[93]

For the bout, Santa Cruz reportedly earned $1 million and Mares earned a $750,000 purse.[94][95] The fight averaged 600,000 on Showtime and peaked at 633,000 viewers. These numbers were much lower than their first bout, however that bout was aired on ESPN.[96]

At their annual convention in October 2018, the WBC ordered Santa Cruz vs. Gary Russell Jr. (29-1, 17 KOs), as it was reported PBC were looking to match the two boxers in 2019.[97] In November, PBC and FOX released the 2019 first half schedule. It was announced that Santa Cruz would defend his WBA title against Miguel Flores (23-2, 11 KOs) on 16 February 2019.[98] A month later, the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles was confirmed as the venue.[99]