After last night’s highly entertaining and hard fought victory over Abner Mares in Los Angeles, Leo Santa Cruz picked up his first featherweight world title after the (vacant) WBA 126 lb strap was added to the mix at the last minute, and the Mexico born star certainly went some way to shaking off the ‘cherry-picker’ tag that has dogged him over recent times, turning in a classy and measured performance, in what was billed as the “Battle of L.A.”
With judge Max De Luca turning in a score of 114-114, to the other two judges 117-111, a strong enough case for a rematch can be made, especially given the high levels of action that began with the visibly smaller Mares starting strong and fast, before gradually being worn down as Santa Cruz found his range and imposed his strength, tattooing Abner with the better quality shots.
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