Photo by Esther Lin
Leo Santa Cruz is the latest fighter to completely leave the Golden Boy roster as his contract was sold to Al Haymon today, according to an article by ESPN‘s Dan Rafael.
According to the report, it was Oscar De La Hoya‘s frustration with Santa Cruz’s unwillingness to fight a higher level of opposition that led to his company’s release of the 122-pound WBC champion.
The news comes just weeks after it was announced that a slew of Golden Boy talent including Keith Thurman, Robert Guerrero, and Adrien Broner were released from the promotion in a settlement with Richard Schaefer to work exclusively with Haymon.
Under the settlement, fighters such as Santa Cruz and Lucas Matthysse were still under contract with Golden Boy.
Last week, Matthysse renewed his contract with Golden Boy and will likely face hard-hitting Ruslan Provodnikov in March.
This perhaps lends credit to De La Hoya’s claims as it is a very tough opponent for Matthysse, while he has struggled to make any progress on a potential fight between Santa Cruz and Guillermo Rigondeaux.
Nevertheless, Santa Cruz may be headed towards a card on network television since several of his former Golden Boy stablemates are scheduled to appear on NBC and Spike TV.
The question remains, however, as to whether his opponents will be worth the watch.
Just a few months ago, it seemed that a fight between Danny Garcia and Lamont Peterson would never happen under the auspices of Haymon.
Now, with a platform on network television, we will actually get to see the fight in April.
Given Golden Boy’s decision, could we actually see a fight with Abner Mares? Or is all this contractual footwork merely a way of avoiding tougher fights, including one against Guillermo Rigondeaux?
