The World Boxing Association (WBA) Classifications Committee announced its rankings for May, which includes the 15 best boxers in the 17 weight divisions. Only these boxers have the possibility of aspiring to a world title fight within their respective divisions.

The “Boxer of the Month” distinction was awarded to Leo Santa Cruz, who beat Abner Mares to retain his WBA Super World Super Featherweight Champion status.

The fight itself was a very good one and was televised on the premium network Showtime and was 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 fighters came out very high strung in the bout 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.” 

The honorable mention for boxer of the month is Daniel Roman. “The Baby Faced Assassin” became the first man to score a victory over Moises “Chucky” Flores as he won a well fought unanimous decision verdict in Texas.