Stephanie Trapp/SHOWTIME
Say what you will about Leo Santa Cruz (32-0, 18 KOs). He doesn’t always face the best opposition—he doesn’t always look like the most talented or intelligent boxer, but the kid understands that being a fighter also means being an entertainer.
On a day bogged down by a number of cagey duds, Santa Cruz put on a show and gave the crowd their money’s worth before taking his opponent Kiko Martinez (35-7, 26 KOs) out in the fifth round.
In the first round Santa Cruz let off over 140 punches according to CompuBox numbers and floored Martinez twice. Martinez bravely got up off the floor and lured Santa Cruz into a brutal phone booth fight for the remaining four rounds to the delight of roaring fans.
Santa Cruz noted that Martinez is one of the toughest fighters he has yet to face.
“[Martinez] was like a bull,” he said.
After the fight Santa Cruz said he took the opportunity to brawl with Martinez because he wanted to be sure that the fans could get a great show.
Stephanie Trapp/SHOWTIME
Across the pond, Scott Quigg lost a decision to Carl Frampton because he failed to let his hands go and put up any kind of offense. Much of the Twitterverse criticized both fighters for failing to make a statement. Santa Cruz took swipes at the both of them in his post-fight interview, notably when talking about his perpetual level of activity.
“The fans love it when fighters go toe-to-toe,” he said, clearly hinting at the lack of respect Quigg and Frampton appeared to receive after their fight fell short of expectations.
Santa Cruz called out both Quigg and Frampton saying he’d love to take on either of them.
At the time of the stoppage, the scorecards were widely in favor of Santa Cruz with two of them reading 40-34 and one 39-35. The fight was one of the most exciting wars that have happened so far this year with both fighters throwing incessant barrages of punches, wide scores aside.
Santa Cruz is an entertainer. Whether he continues to remain at the top is questionable, but one would be hard pressed to wish he had been more exciting.
