Leo Santa Cruz
Photo by Naoki Fukada
This would be a fight fans dream come true. A classic matchup of a come-forward Mexican warrior against a slick Cuban boxing master.
Leo Santa Cruz (27-0-1, 15 KOs) is a non-stop action fighter who would certainly bring the fight to Guillermo Rigondeaux.
Rigondeaux has been down in the past, so you have to to wonder if Santa Cruz would be disciplined enough to cut off the ring and if his relentless aggression and punches-in-bunches would be able to catch “El Chacal?”
Many folks thought Nonito Donaire and Joseph Agbeko would push Rigo with smart aggression, but Rigo was never out of his comfort zone en-route to decision victories in both of those fights.
It’s obviously difficult to hit someone when they’re not standing directly in front of you—as evidenced by Rigondeaux’s CompuBox wizardry, which states that his last six opponents before Sod Kokietgym had landed a measly 16 percent of their total punches, which is tops among all active champions.
Santa Cruz lands an average of 36 punches per round while Rigondeaux’s opponents land an average of five punches per round (per ESPN).
After digesting all of those stats, it’s easy to see that if and when these two men tangle, something’s gotta give.
