Santa Cruz Re-stakes His Claim For Los Angeles Supremacy

Reporting by Jacob Rivera

In a highly anticipated rematch of their great first fight, Leo Santa Cruz & Abner Mares did not disappoint the Los Angeles fans. In a very action packed fight where both fighters combined to throw almost 2,000 punches, Mares ended up falling short yet again to featherweight king Santa Cruz. Mares came out with a different strategy this time around, electing not to be as aggressive in the first half of the fight, which is not to say he wasn't active. Both fighters had many toe to toe exchanges throughout the fight but Santa Cruz seeming to get the better of the battles, to which ultimately won him the war with unanimous scores of 117-111, 116-112, & 115-113. Mares' kryptonite is the left hook, which Santa Cruz landed at will & visibly hurt Mares throughout the fight. Although there was no knockdowns or even anything clear to one, Mares seemed to be the fading fighter of the two. After the fight Santa Cruz called out for a unification with Gary Russell Jr., which would be a great match-up to see, & definitely seems makeable since both are with Haymon. Mares who is now in a rebuilding phase again with the loss, called out for a third fight with Santa Cruz, which would probably be entertaining, but its completely unnecessary for both their careers or the division. A smart move on the Mares camp would be to seek a fight with Carl Frampton and if they win they can seek that third fight with Santa Cruz.

In the co-main event Jermell Charlo was defending his super welterweight title for the third time against Austin Trout. The buildup & trash talking leading up to this fight did not translate to the explosive battle we expected. Charlo who scored two knockdowns & looked to be throwing punches with very bad intentions, was very calculating at times, much to the crowd's dismay. Trout didn't offer much in resistance & seemed to be content with surviving the Charlo onslaught. The most surprising thing to me was that one judge turned in a ludicrous card of a 113-113 draw, which any way you slice it, there is no way you could give Trout more then 3 rounds at the most. After the victory Charlo was loudly booed in the post fight interview, and seems to be in the place of the new boxing villain of the sport. A unification with Jarrett Hurd seems inevitable for Charlo with both fighters taking to social media to jaw one another. It would be not only a significant fight but a bad blood fight that on paper looks to be as exciting as it comes. Trout on the other hand will look to be the gate keeper for the division & a good test to measure any young up & comers, like an Erickson Lubin.

Across the desert in Las Vegas, the current P4P king, Terence "Bud" Crawford was fighting his first fight at welterweight & against newly crowned WBO champion Jeff Horn. In the lead up to the fight, I was very vocal that Crawford would run over the overrated & over matched Horn, & the results were just that. In what I scored as a clean sweep, Crawford eventually knocked down Horn & eventually getting the referee to step in after having seen enough. Crawford is starting to look as one of the greatest fighters of this era & possibly one of the greatest fighters of all time. His intelligence in the ring, his arsenal of weapons, his determination, & his much discussed mean streak, combine to make pretty much the perfect fighter. I believe right now Crawford beats current champion Keith Thurman, former champions Shawn Porter, Danny Garcia, & Manny Pacquiao, & the only real challenge seems to be IBF champion, Errol Spence Jr.. As intriguing as that match-up is I personally would like to see Crawford fight some other top dogs in the division before fighting Spence. Horn now suffering his first loss will look to go back to the drawing board & see where his next path leads. I do not suspect that it will lead him to another crack at a belt anytime soon & as long as Spence & Crawford are in the division, it would be hard to wrestle the hardware from either.

On a quick side-note I did subscribe to the ESPN+ app that the Crawford Horn fight showcased on, & I was pleasantly surprised on how good it was. Not only does it offer live boxing via Top Rank promotions but you have access to older classic fights as well as their excellent 30 for 30 series among other things. If you have the low price tag of $5.00 a month to spare & you are a boxing fan, its well worth the investment, in my opinion.

Santa Cruz Re-stakes His Claim For Los Angeles Supremacy

Jacob Rivera

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