Leo Santa Cruz Ready For War Against Mares, Set on Possible Trilogy

1
823

Leo Santa CruzNow that the Leo Santa Cruz and Abner Mares fight is official, what can we expect from the fight itself? The two will meet on August 29th at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, which will headline a PBC on ESPN broadcast.

The fight has been unfairly met with criticism by some of the sport’s more cynical fans, protesting the fact that this fight should’ve taken place a long time ago, and/or upset with Santa Cruz’s lack of opposition over the past few years. To them, it is too late for Santa Cruz to step up without sustainable backlash.

But it is simply unfair because this fight is a solid matchup. Besides, what would everyone have said if Santa Cruz continued his same path?

For the rest of us that expect a great matchup, the question is how good can this fight be?

Santa Cruz told Thaboxingvoice’s Fernando Pimentel after the press conference for the fight that he believes we are looking at a potential classic, but he is just relieved that the fight has finally been made.

“I’m very glad that this fight got made and not only for me but for the fans because the fans wanted it. I been pushing it for a long time, but they never made this fight happen, and now that it’s happened I’m very motivated to go out there and give the fans a great fight. I think [it will be] a war and very explosive, and it could be a trilogy,” Santa Cruz said in a video published on Thaboxingvoice’s YouTube channel.

I don’t think that Santa Cruz was taking a shot at Golden Boy when he casually mentions that the fight has finally been made, but there was a tone in his voice that suggested blame. He is probably just trying to separate himself from the responsibility associated with the drawn-out nature of this fight. Still, Golden Boy certainly isn’t to blame.

Through the years, Al Haymon navigated around the biggest potential fights involving his fighters for the pure purpose of waiting out his time with Golden Boy in order to capitalize off of these kinds of fights by setting them on a PBC stage.

However, that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy them just because of the ethical issues. And you can’t really blame Haymon for wanting to make the most of his own venture. You could argue that he owed this fight to Golden Boy, but that’s an issue based solely on conjecture. Although, I do believe that Golden Boy would’ve handled this promotion better, but the fight can sell itself for the most part.

The best possible scenario for this fight’s outcome, regardless of who wins, is that it produces the kind of fireworks that leaves more to be desired. Great fights between Mexican/Hispanic fighters in the smaller weight classes have awesome potential to calibrate both fighters’ commercial appeal in a major way. Barrera-Morales, Vazquez-Marquez, and Rios Alvarado are just a few examples, but one staple of a compelling Mexican rivalry is multiple fights – hopefully, a trilogy that settles a 1-1 record.

Santa Cruz is hopeful that this fight can produce enough drama that a rematch is warranted, and he feels it is an even enough matchup that a trilogy is possible.

“Of course [this could be a trilogy] because if it’s a great, even fight that could go either way I think none of us is going to want the loss. I think either him or me, whoever loses that night, is going to want the rematch and we can go from there on.”