Leo Santa Cruz was one of the three boxers who were advised by Al Haymon and still had a contract with Golden Boy Promotions when the news broke of the Oscar De La Hoya/Richard Schaefer/Al Haymon split. The other two were Amir Khan and Lucas Matthysse. While Khan maintains that he is a free agent, Matthysse dropped Haymon and re-upped with Golden Boy Promotions.
News broke Thursday that Leo Santa Cruz’ contract was bought out by Al Haymon and is now no longer with Golden Boy either. According to a report by ESPN.com, a source said, “Oscar has been telling everybody possible that he wants Leo to fight Rigondeaux. Clearly, that’s not on the agenda for Al and Leo. Al wouldn’t make the fight. Oscar wants to work with fighters and managers who want to put the best against the best and make the kind of fights that the fans want to see.”
De La Hoya told the media that he was working on making a showdown between the two just a few days ago. This was the statement De La Hoya issued to the media
“Talks have begun. Leo wants the fight. Golden Boy wants the fight; Rigo, his promoter and his manager want the fight. I’m not sure if Al would want the fight, but the promoters and fighters want the fight. Leo is at a point where he should be fighting the best of the best. At this point, I’m not going to promote a fight with Leo if it’s not the best opponent for him and for the fans to watch. One thing about Leo is he wants to fight the best.”
In the report, the source said that Santa Cruz’ contract was good until July of 2016. While a Rigondeaux fight is all but dead, it does open up matchups for Santa Cruz to fight the winner of a possible fight between Jhonny Gonzalez and Gary Russell Jr. should he move up. It also opens the possibility of a much-mentioned showdown between Santa Cruz and Abner Mares.
