This Saturday boxing fans are in for a treat as Golden Boy Promotions and Showtime present an event from Stub Hub Center in Carson, California. Headlining the card will be a great co-main event featuring 2 championship bouts. In the 1st title fight, “Teremoto” Leo Santa Cruz will face “Vikingo” Victor Terrazas for the WBC Super Bantamweight Championship, while in the other main event, WBC Featherweight Champion, Abner Mares will defend his belt against Jhonny Gonzalez.
Abner Mares comes into this fight with an undefeated record of 26-0-1 with 14 KOs. If you are a true fan of boxing, then you already know, no one fights as much competitive fights as Mares. The guy is a complete warrior who is willing to face anyone. In the past 3 years, he has faced: Yonnhy Perez, Vic Darchinyan, Joseph Agbeko twice, Eric Morel, Anselmo Moreno, and Daniel Ponce De Leon. His come forward, high volume, style has seemed to work against everyone. He’s definitely an old school throwback fighter and he always puts on a show for the fans.
Jhonny Gonzalez is a tough fighter who has been in the division for over 5 years now. He comes in with a record of 54-8 with 46 KOs. He’s a hard punching guy that has mostly made a living in the sport by beating the guys he’s “supposed” to beat, however, other than against Hozumi Hasegawa over 2 years ago, every time he has stepped up his level of competition, he has lost. He now hopes to get that big win that has eluded him his entire career.
Mares must beware of Gonzalez’s power, but he has shown in the past, especially against Ponce De Leon, that he has a good chin and he is not just a fighter, but also a good boxer. I think Gonzalez’s best chance is an early round TKO. I feel as the fight goes on, Mares will have more stamina and eventually wear Gonzalez down. I’m going with Mares with 8th round TKO. His skill, style, and stamina should help him prevail once again.
Now we move on to 1 of my favorite fighters to watch, Leo Santa Cruz. The exciting undefeated Santa Cruz comes in with a record of 24-0-1 with 14 KOs. If you’ve never seen him fight before, you’re missing out. He throws an average of 100 punches a round and normally over 1000 punches a fight. He uses his jab well and is constantly throwing combinations. His biggest knock so far is his competition. His biggest win was against Eric Morel, who was 37 at the time and this fight is a big step up in competition for him. This fight will definitely tell if he’s for real right now or if he’s still a bit too green for the big boys.
Victor Terrazas comes into the fight with 37-2-1 record with 21 of those wins by way of KO. His best fights were wins against Nehomar Cermeno, Fernando Montiel, Cristian Mijares, and a loss against Rendell Munroe over in Munroe’s home country of UK. He is, in my opinion, a top 3 Super Bantamweight fighter in the world, behind Guillermo Rigondeaux and Nonito Donaire. This is his chance to push his name up to be mentioned with those 2.
This is actually a tough fight to call because on 1 hand, Santa Cruz has been impressive against everyone he’s faced aside from Alberto Guevara about a year ago. However, as I said before, we haven’t really seen him against top competition, and that is exactly what Terrazas will give him. I’m going to have to go with Santa Cruz by unanimous decision. At age 25, Golden Boy wants Santa Cruz to be the new face of their crop of new exciting fighters. If this fight is close at all, I see him getting the nod, even though I can easily see Terrazas teaching the kid some new tricks.
When the night is over, the biggest winner will be the fans, especially the ones of Mexican descent, as 4 top Mexican born boxers will all headline a card that just a few weeks away from Mexican Independence day. The skill level, heart, and power that will probably be displayed on this Saturday night is the type that turns casual fans into hardcore fanatics. Both of these fights have a chance to be fight of the year type candidates. What more can you ask for? Enjoy the fights.
