Leo Santa Cruz hopes to give his father, Jose Santa Cruz, a special motivation in his fight against cancer. To do this he knows that he must achieve a convincing victory over Rafael Rivera this Saturday at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles with a defense of his Super Featherweight Championship of the World Boxing Association (WBA).

Santa Cruz (35-1-1, 19 KOs) comes into the fight after beating Abner Mares last June, and should he beat Rivera (26-2-2, 17 KOs) he mentioned that he would love to unify all the title belts in the 130 pound division once and for all.

“Seeing the way my father has faced his cancer treatment has been very difficult. It always motivates me to go to the gym and train very hard because I know that if he sees me working hard it will end up motivating him too,” Leo said at a recent press conference.

“I’ll do whatever it takes to give them a big fight and take the championship home,” said the challenger Rivera, who arrives as a replacement for the injured Miguel Flores. “I’ll be ready for whatever Leo brings to the ring. We all know that he’s very tough and he throws a lot of punches, but I can hurt him with my counterattacks,” he concluded.