In a veritable throwback fight between two hometown fighters, Leo Santa Cruz (31-0-1, 17 KOs) slugged his way to a majority decision win over Abner Mares (29-2-1, 15 KOs) to win the vacant WBC Diamond Featherweight title and WBA Super World Featherweight title at the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, California.
The 12-round fight headlined a PBC on ESPN card that was televised in front of a raucous crowd of 13,109 boxing fans, most of who cheered for Santa Cruz, though Mares had his fans in attendance as well.
Two judges score the fight 117-111 for Santa Cruz, while one judge scored the fight a 114-114 draw.
Santa Cruz, 27, struggled very early with Mares’ aggression, though he eventually made adjustments, used his reach advantage and was busier in the final rounds to eventually score the win.
Mares, 29, charged at Santa Cruz in the first round, closing the distance easily to land combinations on the inside. Despite being the aggressor, Mares was hit in the first and second round, but nodded his head each time as if to say, “No, that did not hurt me.”
“He was trying to knock me out,” said Santa Cruz, “I knew he was going to come out like that.”
“My dad told me,” Santa Cruz continued, “that he wasn’t going to last all the rounds like that.”
Indeed, as Santa Cruz’s father predicted, Mares’ agression slowly waned, and by the middle rounds Santa Cruz’s longer punches allowed him to land the better shots in the exchange.
Mares was still aggressive, but it became harder and harder for the native of Guadalajara, Mexico to close the distance, and he would often let his hands go at a farther distance than he had done before.
Mares, however, said he felt he did better in the later rounds and that he wasn’t hurt at all during the fight.
“I made the adjustments. I started working the body and working on the inside,” said Mares before making his case for a rematch.
Another factor was Santa Cruz’s punch output, which seemed to eventually get to Mares. Whether he was going forward or backward, Mares was constantly under pressure from the Rosemead, California native.
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Indeed, according to CompuBox stats, Santa Cruz landed 373 out of an astounding 1057 punches thrown, while Mares only landed 227 out of 980 punches thrown.
Santa Cruz forced Mares to work at a pace he had never worked at before, and it took its toll going into the final rounds.
Despite the onslaught from Santa Cruz, Mares kept his will to win, and exchanged with his opponent in the final round.
Despite everything Mares threw, however, it was not enough.
Santa Cruz now holds a title at Super Bantamweight and Featherweight, and the option to fight the likes of Gary Russell Jr. and Carl Frampton–fighters signed with Al Haymon, though in different divisions–are all on the horizon for Santa Cruz.
Mares, on the other hand, takes another step back after trying to rebuild his career in the past two years.
Both fighters expressed their willingness to fight each other again, but it remains to be seen if that will come to fruition.
What did you think of tonight’s fight? What’s next for both fighters?
For more results, check out the RBRBoxing Results page.
Header photo by Ismael Gallardo/RBRBoxing
