At the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, Leo Santa Cruz scored his 35th victory via unanimous decision scores of 117-111, 116-112, and 115-113 in his rematch against Abner Mares.
The bout was televised on the premium network Showtime, with Santa Cruz defending his World Boxing Association (WBA) Super World Featherweight Title in a rematch of their first bout that took place back in August of 2015. The first bout was a very action packed one, with both fighters combining to throw over 2,000 punches and the rematch was nearly a carbon copy.
Both fighter came out very high strung and got off to a quick start as both were vying for control and ring generalship. It took until the third round for a sort of rhythm to be established, which was Santa Cruz pressing forward behind his long reach.
Mares was nearly matching Santa Cruz punch for punch but Leo’s longer, straighter blows were hitting the mark more frequently. In the second half of the fight Mares tried to take the fight inside and was successful but only in bursts as he was not able to sustain his attack successfully on Santa Cruz for long periods of time.
“It feels great. Abner is a great fighter, he left his heart out there. It was a tough fight but thank God we got the victory. I had to be smarter that’s why it was not a bigger war but it was still a good one.” Said Santa Cruz post fight.
Mares was gracious in defeat, saying “I hope you like the fight because we fought for you Los Angeles. Win or lose we did it for the fans, it was a great fight. I’ll do it again, lets do it again, Mares-Santa Cruz 3.”
