Léo Santa Cruz
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Léodegario Santa Cruz (born 10 August 1988) is a Mexican
professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...
. He is a four-weight world champion, having held the IBF
bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports and weightlifting. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class ...
title from 2012 to 2013, the WBC
super bantamweight Super bantamweight, also known as junior featherweight, is a boxing weight classes, weight class in professional boxing, contested from and up to . There were attempts by boxing promoters in the 1920s to establish this weight class, but few sanct ...
title from 2013 to 2015, the
WBA (Super) The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is an international professional boxing organization based in Panama. The WBA awards its world championship title at the professional level. Founded i ...
featherweight Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Boxing Professional boxing History A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, ...
title twice between 2015 and 2022, and the WBA (Super)
super featherweight Super featherweight, also known as junior lightweight, is a weight division in professional boxing, contested between and . The super featherweight division was established by the New York Walker Law in 1920, although first founded by the New ...
title from 2019 to 2020.


Amateur career

As an
amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...
, Santa Cruz compiled a record of 148 wins and 7 losses.


Professional career


Bantamweight


Early years

Santa Cruz made his professional debut, at the age of 18 on 13 October 2006 against Mexican boxer Pedro Silva, winning the fight via knockout in round 2. After drawing his second bout in January 2007 against Rodrigo Hernandez, Santa Cruz went on to win his next thirteen fights, with five coming by stoppage. On 21 October 2010 Santa Cruz beat the veteran James Owens at the Martin's Valley Mansion in
Cockeysville, Maryland Cockeysville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 20,776 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. History Cockeysville was named after the Cockey family who helped establish the ...
. In March 2011, Santa Cruz knocked out the veteran Stephane Jamoye to win the vacant WBC Youth bantamweight championship.


Santa Cruz vs. Malinga

In April 2012, promoter Branco Milenkovic announced that a deal was set for Santa Cruz to fight South African boxer Vusi Malinga (20–3–1, 12 KOs) for the vacant IBF bantamweight title. The fight was slated for 2 June at the Home Depot Center in
Carson, California Carson is a city in the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay and the Los Angeles Harbor Region, Harbor regions of Los Angeles County, California, located south of downtown Los Angeles and approximately away from Los Angeles International ...
. The IBF title was left vacant when then-champion Abner Mares moved up in weight. Santa Cruz beat Malinga via unanimous decision to win the IBF bantamweight title. The bout was televised on a Showtime boxing card. Two judges scored Santa Cruz the clear winner with scorecards of 120–108 and the third judge gave Malinga one round, scoring the fight 119–109. The fight started off with both boxers trying to out land each other, with Santa Cruz landing the cleaner and power shots. Malinga was hurt numerous times during the fight, but kept coming forward.


Santa Cruz vs. Morel

In August 2012, it was announced that Santa Cruz would make the first defence of his IBF title on the undercard of Saul Álvarez vs. Josesito López on 15 September at the
MGM Grand Garden Arena The MGM Grand Garden Arena is a 17,000-seat multi-purpose arena within the MGM Grand Las Vegas, MGM Grand resort, located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The venue opened on December 31, 1993, with a concert by Barbra Streisand, and s ...
in Paradise, Nevada. His first defence was rumoured to be against former two-time world champion Eric Morel (46–3, 23 KOs). On fight night, Santa Cruz wore down Morel with body shots, dominating the fight from the opening bell, forcing Morel to quit on his stool before round 6 began. CompuBox stats showed that Santa Cruz landed 66% of his power punches. In total, over five rounds, Santa Cruz landed 277 punches of 509 thrown (54%) and Morel landed 73 of his 344 thrown (21%).


Santa Cruz vs. Zaleta

On 29 October 2012 a deal was reached for Santa Cruz to make a second defence of his IBF title at the
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in
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against Mexican boxer Victor Zaleta (20–2–1, 10 KOs) on a double header featuring WBC super bantamweight champion
Abner Mares Abner Mares Martínez (born November 28, 1985) is a Mexican-American professional boxer who also works as a boxing analyst and commentator for Showtime. He has held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the IBF bant ...
vs.
Anselmo Moreno Anselmo Moreno (born 28 June 1985) is a Panamanian professional boxer. He held the WBA bantamweight title from 2008 to 2014 (promoted to super champion status in 2011), making him the longest reigning bantamweight world champion of all time, ...
on 10 November. The card was to be shown live on Showtime. Santa Cruz dropped Zaleta three times en route to a TKO victory in round 9 to retain his IBF title. Santa Cruz started the fight the better boxer and began working the body immediately. Zaleta was dropped following a body shot in round 4, again in round 7 following a combination of shots to the head and body and the final knockdown in round 9, again from a combination forced the referee to stop the fight.


Santa Cruz vs. Guevara

On 2 December 2012 Golden Boy Promotions announced a double-header which would take place on CBS at the Los Angeles Sports Arena on 15 December where Santa Cruz would make his third defence in four months against unbeaten Mexican boxer Alberto Guevara (16–0, 6 KOs). The last time CBS aired live boxing was 15 years prior in January 1997 when
Bernard Hopkins Bernard Hopkins Jr. (born January 15, 1965) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2016. He is one of the most successful boxers of the past three decades, having held multiple world championships in two weight class ...
stopped Glen Johnson. The fight was one-sided as Santa Cruz went on to win a unanimous decision to retain his IBF title. Santa Cruz, who was known to have a high punch output did not throw as much as his previous bouts but did enough for the three judges to score the fight 116–112, 118–110, and 119–109 in his favour. Santa Cruz explained the reason for the lower output was because he felt he had fought a lot recently. According to CompuBox Stats, Santa Cruz landed 291 of 989 punches thrown (29%) and Guevara landed 158 of his 793 thrown (20%). Santa Cruz finished the year with 5 wins including 3 title defenses. On 12 February 2013, Santa Cruz vacated his IBF bantamweight belt to move up to junior featherweight.


Super bantamweight

Santa Cruz had his first fight at the super bantamweight limit on the undercard of the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Robert Guerrero Showtime Pay-Per-View on 5 May 2013 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The fight was officially announced in March along with the rest of the undercard. Santa Cruz was originally scheduled to fight Rafael Márquez, but he pulled out due to injury. Venezuelan veteran, former super flyweight world champion Alexander Muñoz (36–4, 28 KOs) stepped in. Santa Cruz won the vacant NABF super bantamweight title after stopping Muñoz in round 5. The fight started out with both boxers trading blow, but it was Santa Cruz who was landing the harder and cleaner shots. Muñoz was dropped at the end of round 3 and then nearly went down again in the next round. After taking more punishment from the bigger Santa Cruz, Muñoz's trainer stopped the fight. Santa Cruz landed 52% of his total punches thrown which included 57 body shots.


Santa Cruz vs. Terrazas

On 18 June 2013 Golden Boy announced that Santa Cruz was the
mandatory challenger In professional boxing and some other combat sports, a mandatory challenger is an opponent whom a champion must either fight (in a mandatory defence) or be forced to vacate their title as champion. The opposite of a mandatory defence is a ''volunt ...
with the WBC and would challenge Mexican boxer Victor Terrazas (37–2–1, 21 KOs) for his WBC super bantamweight title at the
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in Carson, California on 24 August. The fight would mark Terrazas' first title defence since winning the then-vacant title in April 2013 against Cristian Mijares. Golden Boy won the rights to promote the fight at the purse bids when they bid $526,000, more than the $451,000 which came from Zanfer Promotions. With Terrazas the champion, due 75%, meaning he would come out with $368,200 and Santa Cruz will get remaining $157,800. Santa Cruz beat Terrazas via a 3rd-round TKO to become a two-weight world champion. Santa Cruz started off quick immediately forcing Terrazas to fight on the back foot. Terrazas was able to fight back but was getting hit a lot in the process. By the end of round 2, Terrazas' right eye began to close due to the offence output of Santa Cruz. In round 3, Santa Cruz dropped Terrazas twice and although he beat the count each time, the referee waved off the fight after the second knockdown. Santa Cruz landed 78 of 267 punches thrown (29%) and Terrazas landed 33 of his 156 thrown (21%). Santa Cruz was credited with landed 33 power shots in round 2.


Santa Cruz vs. Seda

Golden Boy initially tried to make Santa Cruz vs. Cristian Mijares for 2 November however negotiations broke down on 9 October. Instead a new deal was being formed for Santa Cruz to make his first voluntary defence against Cesar Seda (25–1, 17 KOs) on 14 December at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada on the undercard of the Showtime PPV Marcos Maidana vs. Adrien Broner for the WBA welterweight title. The card was later taken off PPV, but would still be aired on Showtime and would take place at the
Alamodome The Alamodome is a 64,000-seat domed indoor multi-purpose stadium in San Antonio, Texas. It is located on the southeastern fringe of downtown San Antonio. The facility opened on May 15, 1993, having been constructed at a cost of $186 milli ...
in
San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...
, Texas. Santa Cruz knocked Seda down once in the fifth-round as he went on to win a unanimous decision when the three judges scored it 117–110, 116–111, 115–112 in his favor. Despite the win, Santa Cruz was disappointing with his performance. CompuBox Stats showed that Santa Cruz landed 297 of 829 punches thrown (36%) and Seda landed 170 of his 649 thrown (26%)


Santa Cruz vs. Mijares

On 9 January 2014 it was announced that Santa Cruz would finally meet veteran Mexican contender Cristian Mijares (49–7–2, 24 KOs), also his mandatory challenger at the
MGM Grand Garden Arena The MGM Grand Garden Arena is a 17,000-seat multi-purpose arena within the MGM Grand Las Vegas, MGM Grand resort, located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The venue opened on December 31, 1993, with a concert by Barbra Streisand, and s ...
in Paradise, Nevada on 8 March, defending his WBC title. The fight would take place on the PPV undercard of Canelo vs. Angulo. For the fight, Santa Cruz would earn $500,000 and Mijares had a $92,000 purse. The fight went the distance as Santa Cruz won on all three judges scorecards (120–108, 120–108, 119–109). Santa Cruz showed respect in the post fight interview to Mijares, who he looked up to before he won his first world title, "Mijares is a great boxer. I came to do what I had to do to win. Mijares had great experience. He's a lefty. I had to be ready. We practiced everything to put on a great fight." Santa Cruz landed 371 of 1043 punches thrown (36%) and Mijares landed 132 of his 574 thrown (23%).


Santa Cruz vs. Roman, Ruiz

Santa Cruz made his next defence on 13 September at the MGM Grand on the Mayweather-Maidana II undercard against Mexican boxer Manuel Roman (17–2–3, 6 KOs) . He stopped Roman in round two to retain his world title. After the fight, Santa Cruz said, "I did my job. That's what I came for. I'm not scared of anyone. I want Rigondeaux and I want my manager nowiki/>Al Haymon">Al_Haymon.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Al Haymon">nowiki/>Al Haymonto make the fight to show I am the best." Three months later on 17 January 2015 Santa Cruz defended his WBC super bantamweight title against Jesus Ruiz (33–5–5, 22 KOs) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. The fight was announced a month earlier. Santa Cruz was criticized for fighting another low-level regarded opponent prior to the fight. Santa Cruz landed 277 punches to 120 by Ruiz, landing powerful head shots to force the stoppage 29 seconds into the 8th round. At the time of stoppage, Santa Cruz was ahead on all three judges scorecards (69–63, 69–64, 69–64). Santa Cruz earned a purse of $750,000 compared to Ruiz's $50,000. He then defended himself in the post-fight interview, "It was a war, but we came prepared. He gave me a tough fight. We went after him and stopped him. I know he was prepared."


Featherweight

Santa Cruz moved up to featherweight and fought his first fight on 2 May 2015. His opponent was announced as Mexican Jose Cayetano (17–3, 8 KOs) in a scheduled 10 round bout on the
Mayweather vs. Pacquiao super fight undercard at the MGM Grand Arena. Santa Cruz won every round on all three judges scorecards (100–90, 3 times). Still undefeated, Santa Cruz boasted a record of 30 wins, no losses and 1 draw, with 17 inside the distance.


Santa Cruz vs. Mares

On 3 July 2015 a deal was finally reached for Santa Cruz to challenge fellow Southern Californian
Abner Mares Abner Mares Martínez (born November 28, 1985) is a Mexican-American professional boxer who also works as a boxing analyst and commentator for Showtime. He has held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the IBF bant ...
(29–1–1, 15 KOs) for the vacant WBA (Super) The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is an international professional boxing organization based in Panama. The WBA awards its world championship title at the professional level. Founded i ...
featherweight and vacant World Boxing Council#Diamond Championship">WBC Diamond featherweight titles on 29 August at the
Staples Center Crypto.com Arena (originally and colloquially known as Staples Center) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in downtown Los Angeles. Opened on October 17, 1999, as Staples Center, it is located next to the Los Angeles Convention Center complex along F ...
in Los Angeles. Premier Boxing Champions confirmed the bout would take place on ESPN. Santa Cruz won the fight via majority decision in a potential fight of the year candidate to win the vacant titles. With the win, Santa Cruz became a three-weight world champion. 13,109 fans were in attendance at the Staples Center. Judge Max Deluca had it a draw at 114–114 whilst judges Jesse Reyes and Steve Morrow scored it 117–111 for Santa Cruz. "I was surprised Abner came out so strong. He came right at me but we figured him out and we got the win. I stayed outside with the jab. We were able to take control.", said Santa Cruz in the post fight interview. The whole card averaged 1.217 million on ESPN and peaked towards the end at 1.641 million viewers. The figures were recorded as the highest on ESPN since 1998. The bout was also televised on Spanish-only network
ESPN Deportes ESPN Deportes (, ) is an American multinational Spanish-language pay television sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the ...
and averaged 355,000 viewers, another record.


Santa Cruz vs. Martínez

In January 2016, Showtime announced they would televise Santa Cruz's first defence against Kiko Martínez (35–6, 26 KOs), scheduled to take place on 28 February at the
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in
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. For the fight, Martínez replaced usual trainer Gabriel Sarmiento with well-known trainer Robert García. Santa Cruz successfully retained his title by defeating Martínez via fifth-round TKO. Martínez was knocked down twice in Round 1, but beat the referee's count and continued to back Santa Cruz up in an entertaining slugfest. Both fighters combined threw over 1,000 punches in less than five full rounds. Santa Cruz hurt Martínez in round 5 when he cornered him and hurt him with right hands. Santa Cruz continued with a series of combinations until referee Raul Caiz Sr. jumped in at 2:09 as Martínez stopped throwing back. Santa Cruz landed 55% of his power punches.


Santa Cruz vs. Frampton I, II

On 22 April 2016 negotiations were complete for Santa Cruz to defend his
WBA (super) The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is an international professional boxing organization based in Panama. The WBA awards its world championship title at the professional level. Founded i ...
featherweight title against
Carl Frampton Carl Frampton (born 21 February 1987) is a Northern Irish former professional boxer who competed from 2009 to 2021. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the WBA (super) super bantamweight title in 2016, and the IBF su ...
(22–0, 14 KOs), who was moving up from super bantamweight on 30 July 2016 at the
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in
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. In a potential fight of the year candidate, Santa Cruz lost his title to Frampton via a 12-round majority decision win before a crowd of 9,062. One judge scored it a 114–114 draw but the others made Frampton the winner, 116–112 and 117–111. Frampton had a higher accuracy rate, despite both fighters landing equal numbers of punches. According to CompuBox stats, Frampton landed 242 of 668 punches (36 percent), whilst Santa Cruz connected on 255 of 1,002 blows (25 percent). In the post fight, Frampton said he wanted to defend the title in his home city and did not want to rule out a rematch. The fight averaged 480,000 and peaked at 549,000 viewers. A rematch was confirmed between Santa Cruz and Frampton in October to take place. Originally discussed to take place at Frampton's hometown of
Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
, the venue was confirmed to be at the MGM Grand in
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on 28 January 2017. 10,085 were in attendance as Santa Cruz regained his title with a majority decision (114–114, 115–113, 115–113). Santa Cruz and Frampton immediately discussed interest in a third fight, possibly in Frampton's hometown of
Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
. Frampton earned a purse of $1 million compared to $900,000 that Santa Cruz received. In the post-fight, Santa Cruz said, "Before the fight I said I wanted revenge and I wanted to work hard. I went to the gym and I worked hard, and I did what I had to do. Carl Frampton is a good fighter. Let's make it a third fight!" Frampton only landed 133 of his 592 punches thrown (22%) whereas Santa Cruz landed 230 of his 884 thrown (26%). Nielsen Media Research reported the fight averaged 587,000 and peaked at 643,000 viewers.


Santa Cruz vs. Avalos

On 3 April 2017 the
World Boxing Association The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is an international professional boxing organization based in Panama. The WBA awards its world championship title at the professional level. Founded ...
ordered a rematch between Santa Cruz and their "regular" champion
Abner Mares Abner Mares Martínez (born November 28, 1985) is a Mexican-American professional boxer who also works as a boxing analyst and commentator for Showtime. He has held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the IBF bant ...
(30–2–1, 15 KOs). This was done as part of WBA's ongoing plan to reduce the number of world titles. Mares became mandatory challenger and "regular" titleholder after winning a split decision against Argentine boxer Jesus Cuellar in December 2016. Due to the negotiations taking too long, the WBA ordered a deal be made by 11 July 2017 or the fight would go to purse bids on 21 July. The fight was supposedly set for 9 September at the
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, but nothing materialized. Due to the Srisaket Sor RungvisaiRoman González rematch taking place on the 9 September at the
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in Carson,
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, who own both venues said they would push the Santa Cruz-Mares rematch back to take place on 7 October instead. On 18 August, it was announced that negotiations had broken down. On 25 August, Mares told Ringtv that he and Santa Cruz would still appear on the same card on 14 October on Fox. The fight would take place in the afternoon, on the same card
Jermell Charlo Jermell DeAvante Charlo (; born May 19, 1990) is an American professional boxer. He held the undisputed championship at light middleweight from 2022 to 2023 and ''The Ring'' light middleweight title from 2020 to 2024. His identical twin broth ...
defends his WBC light middleweight title against Erickson Lubin in the evening on Showtime. Advisor Al Haymon re-assured Mares that a rematch with Santa Cruz would still take place. On 30 August, it was announced that Santa Cruz's opponent would be Chris Avalos, while Mares would fight Andrés Gutiérrez. Avalos came into the fight with a 2–3 record in his last 5 fights since 2015. In a one-sided beatdown, Santa Cruz stopped Avalos in the eighth round. The end came with Santa Cruz piling hurtful power shots on Avalos, when referee Thomas Taylor had seen enough, he stepped in at 1 minute, 34 seconds. Avalos never got started in the fight, which was all Santa Cruz. After a slow start in the opening round, Santa Cruz began to pick his power shots to the head and body. Avalos connected on his own shots, but lacked the power to hurt Santa Cruz. Avalos was not happy with the stoppage, "I'm very upset with the stoppage. We were fighting the whole time. There was no reason to stop this fight. I wasn't hurt like the referee thought. I want to fight for the title again." Santa Cruz spoke about the game plan for the fight saying, "At the beginning, I wasn't doing what my corner was telling me. I was trying to please the fans. I wanted to give he fansa brawl, a toe-to-toe, my dad said, 'What are you doing, you are supposed to beat him from the outside' – and that's what we did in the later rounds." CompuBox stats showed exactly how the fight went with Santa Cruz landing 281 of 692 punches thrown (41%) and Avalos landing 169 of 751 thrown (23%). Mares was also victorious in his fight, setting up a rematch between himself and Santa Cruz. The card averaged 1,483,000 viewers on Fox.


Santa Cruz vs. Mares II

Soon after stopping Avalos, talks re-emerged for the Santa Cruz vs. Mares fight. In December 2017, Ringstar Promotions'
Richard Schaefer Richard Schaefer is a Swiss professional boxing promoter who is the current president of Anthem Sports Group. He was the former CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, which he left in 2014. In 2016 he founded his own boxing promotional company Ringstar S ...
stated it's a fight both fighters wanted and the only detail to discuss was finding the best venue and date for the fight. A strong candidate for hosting the fight was the
Staples Center Crypto.com Arena (originally and colloquially known as Staples Center) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in downtown Los Angeles. Opened on October 17, 1999, as Staples Center, it is located next to the Los Angeles Convention Center complex along F ...
in Los Angeles, the venue of the first fight. On 24 January 2018 Showtime announced the fight would take place at the Staples Center on 9 June 2018. The fight was made official on 2 April. Santa Cruz defeated Mares via unanimous decision after 12 rounds to retain his WBA (Super) featherweight title. Santa Cruz outworked Mares using his powerful jab, right hand and left hooks. Mares connected with nice shots, but Santa Cruz was the busier boxer and continued to land the more powerful shots to win the rounds. The three judges Rey Danseco of the Philippines, Steve Weisfeld, and Zac Young both of the United States scored the fight 115–113, 116–112 and 117–111, respectively, in favor of Santa Cruz. After the fight, Santa Cruz expressed interest in fighting WBC featherweight champion Gary Russell Jr. in a unification fight. He said "It was a great fight – another war. I had to be smarter. ... Abner is a great fighter. He left his heart out there." He then added, "Hopefully I am he best featherweight in the world But I leave it to the fans to say who is the best. ... I want Gary Russell. Let's unify. I'm not scared of anybody." According to CompuBox, Santa Cruz landed 357 of 1061 punches (34%) and Mares landed 208 of 931 (22%). CompuBox reported for the two fights combined, Santa Cruz landed 730 of 2115 punched thrown (35%) and Mares landed 434 of his 1908 thrown (23%). Combined they landed 1164 of a total 4023 punches thrown (29%) over the 24 rounds. For the bout, Santa Cruz reportedly earned $1 million and Mares earned a $750,000 purse. The fight averaged 600,000 on Showtime and peaked at 633,000 viewers. These numbers were much lower than their first bout, however that bout was aired on ESPN.


Santa Cruz vs. Rivera

In November 2018, PBC and
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announced that Santa Cruz would defend his WBA title against Miguel Flores on 16 February 2019. A month later, the
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in Los Angeles was confirmed as the venue. However, Flores was forced to withdraw from the fight after suffering an ankle injury in camp. Rafael Rivera was confirmed as the replacement on 24 January. Rafael Rivera was ranked #11 by the WBA at featherweight. Santa Cruz won the bout via unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring it 119–109.


Super Featherweight


Santa Cruz vs. Flores

On 26 August 2019, Santa Cruz confirmed that he was planning on moving up to the super featherweight division. In late September, it was revealed that a fight with Miguel Flores was in the works for the vacant WBA (Super) super featherweight title. The match was ultimately confirmed and placed on the main card of Wilder vs. Ortiz II on 23 November. Despite a subpar performance, Santa Cruz managed to outwork Flores and won via unanimous decision with two judges scoring the bout 117–110 and a third scoring it 115–112. In his post-fight interview, Santa Cruz called out Gary Russell and stated that he'd be willing to move up to lightweight for a potential fight with
Gervonta Davis Gervonta Bryant Davis ( ; born November 7, 1994), also known by his nickname "Tank", is an American professional boxer. He has held the World Boxing Association (WBA) lightweight title since 2023, having previously held the Regular version fr ...
.


Santa Cruz vs. Davis

In April 2020, it was confirmed by
Mayweather Promotions Mayweather Promotions, LLC is a boxing promotional firm founded in 2007 by Floyd Mayweather Jr., after exercising a provision in his contract with Bob Arum and Top Rank that allowed him to become a free agent for the price of $750,000. Al Haymon ha ...
that Santa Cruz would be Gervonta Davis’ next opponent, although a June fight date was postponed due to the ongoing
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. It was also announced that both fighters would make their
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debut, with the fight set to be broadcast on Showtime. Davis, who had recently moved up to the lightweight division, agreed to move back down to super featherweight. However, both Davis’ WBA (Regular) lightweight title and Santa Cruz's WBA (Super) featherweight title would be on the line. Having been initially scheduled for 24 October at the
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in
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, the fight was rescheduled for 31 October at the
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in
San Antonio, Texas San Antonio ( ; Spanish for "Anthony of Padua, Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the List of Texas metropolitan areas, third-largest metropolitan area in Texa ...
. This move would allow the event to hold a live audience at 50% capacity. Santa Cruz seemed comfortable during the duration of the fight, however the Mexican constantly left himself vulnerable during his high-volume barrages. In the sixth round, Davis landed a flush left uppercut, knocking out Santa Cruz and leaving him unconscious. Referee Rafael Ramos instantly waved off the fight, handing Santa Cruz his second career loss.


WBA featherweight status

Following only his second professional defeat, Santa Cruz still held the WBA (Super) featherweight title. He last defended the belt in February 2019. British boxer Leigh Wood held the (regular) title. On 6 July 2021 he told reporters that would stay at the super featherweight division in hopes to land a fight with Gary Russell Jr. (31-0, 18 KOs) down the line. Eddie Hearn wanted to appeal to the WBA to strip Santa Cruz and elevate his boxer Wood to full championship status. He said, “They need to do is get Leo Santa Cruz out of the division and elevate him (Wood), because Santa Cruz hasn’t boxed in coming up to three years at featherweight. They keep saying he is going to come back down, but I don’t believe them.” Instead, in August 2021, the WBA ordered Wood to unify his regular title against newly crowned interim champion Michael Conlan, with the winner to then fight Santa Cruz. In December, the WBA set a deadline for Santa Cruz to inform them of his future plans. It had now been over a year since he last fought and coming up to three years since his last fight at featherweight.


Santa Cruz vs. Carbajal

On 19 December 2021 PBC announced a card, scheduled for 6 February 2022 on FOX Sports Pay-Per-View, headlined by
Keith Thurman Keith Fitzgerald Thurman (born November 23, 1988) is an American professional boxer. He is a former unified welterweight world champion, having held the World Boxing Association, WBA title from 2016 to 2019 (promoted to WBA (Super), Super champio ...
vs. Mario Barrios at the
Michelob Ultra Arena The Michelob Ultra Arena, formerly the Mandalay Bay Events Center, is a 12,000-seat multi-purpose indoor arena at the Mandalay Bay, Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned and operated by MG ...
in Paradise, Nevada. Santa Cruz was announced for the undercard as co-feature bout against Keenan Carbajal (23-2-1, 15 KOs) in a 12-round bout, which was later changed to 10 rounds. The WBA confirmed Santa Cruz's status as the WBA (super) champion was safe and that he agreed to fight the winner of Wood vs. Conlan. Santa Cruz came in at 128¾ pounds, while Keenan Carbajal weighed 129 pounds. Santa Cruz dominated Carbajal winning a 10 round unanimous decision. The scores were 100-90, 100-90, and 100-90. Santa Cruz kept throwing punches throughout the fight. This was despite an accidental clash of heads in the second round which formed a cut below his right eye, hindering his sight. Carbajal was cut over his left eye. Santa Cruz appeared to be briefly hurt in the ninth round. The scores were a 100-90 shutout on all three judges' cards. CompuBox showed Santa Cruz landing 250 of 796 punches thrown (31%) and Carbajal landed 139 of his 566 thrown (25%). With the win, Santa Cruz ended Carbajal's 18-fight winning streak, which dated back to 2015. Despite his stance on fighting the winner of Wood and Conlan, Santa Cruz called for a fight against newly crowned WBC featherweight champion Mark Magsayo (24-0, 16 KOs), after he defeated Gary Russell Jr, another boxer who Santa Cruz had called for a fight over the years. Santa Cruz praised Magsayo on his win. His father Jose, wanted him to return to featherweight, as he did not believe he had the power to really hurt boxers north of the division.


Inactivity

On 6 April 2022, the WBA formally ordered Santa Cruz to defend his (super) featherweight title against Leigh Wood (26-2, 12 KOs) . Wood knocked Conlan out of the ring in the final round after being dropped in the opening round and behind on all the scorecards. Both teams were given the standard 30 day negotiation period. An appeal was made by
Matchroom Boxing Matchroom Sport is a UK-based sporting event promotions company founded by Barry Hearn and run by him and his son Eddie Hearn. It first came to attention in the sports of snooker and boxing and is also involved in pool, bowling, golf, fishin ...
, Wood's promoter, for the purse split to be 50-50, rather than the traditional 75/25 split. A purse bid was scheduled for 12 August. A week before the purse bids, Hearn revealed his promotional company had plans for Wood to fight Mauricio Lara in September 2022. At the 11th hour, the purse bid was cancelled after an agreement was made with November 2022 a target date for the title consolidation. A week later it was revealed that the WBA would allow both Santa Cruz and Wood to have separate bouts later in the year. They approved for Santa Cruz to enter a unification fight against Rey Vargas, who uncrowned Mark Magsayo in July 2022. Wood was due to fight Mexican boxer Mauricio Lara on 24 September 2022, but had to pull out due to a bicep injury. Plans for Santa Cruz's unification fight against Vargas also fell apart after Vargas decided to move up in weight. A doctor's note showed that Wood would not be able to train until 1 December, when the WBA would re-order the fight. In December 2022,
Eddie Hearn Edward John Hearn (born 8 June 1979) is a British sports promoter and the chairman of Matchroom Sport and Professional Darts Corporation. Hearn has promoted many world champion boxers through Matchroom, including Anthony Joshua, Canelo Álvar ...
announced that Wood had a fight date booked for 28 January in Nottingham, England. Hearn stated Wood will fight whether his opponent is Santa Cruz or anyone else. On 12 December, the WBA received notification from Santa Cruz that he officially vacated his featherweight title, which automatically elevated Wood to full and sole championship status.


Personal life

Santa Cruz is the youngest of four brothers and also has two sisters. His three brothers, Antonio, José Armando and Roberto were also professional boxers. As of 2020, Santa Cruz had three children, with the oldest of the three, a daughter named Luna. Premier Boxing Champions released a mini-series on
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
, consisting of three episodes, titled 'Getting to Know Leo Santa Cruz'. This was to give fans an insight to his personal life ahead of his first fight against Abner Mares. On 3 June 2025, his father and life-long trainer Jose Santa Cruz died after a long battle with cancer, at the age of 65. He lived a further five years after doctors told his family, they expected him to die after twice catching
COVID Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
in 2020. His heart stopped and his lungs were failing. Tributes poured in from boxing media.


Professional boxing record


Titles in boxing


Major world titles

* IBF bantamweight world champion (118 lbs) * WBC super bantamweight champion (122 lbs) * WBA (Super) featherweight champion (126 lbs) (2×) * WBA (Super) super featherweight champion (130 lbs)


Interim minor world titles

* WBC Youth interim
bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports and weightlifting. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class ...
champion (118 lbs)


Regional/International titles

* USBA
super bantamweight Super bantamweight, also known as junior featherweight, is a boxing weight classes, weight class in professional boxing, contested from and up to . There were attempts by boxing promoters in the 1920s to establish this weight class, but few sanct ...
champion (122 lbs)


Honorary titles

* WBC Diamond featherweight champion


See also

*
List of Mexican boxing world champions A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...
*
List of boxing quadruple champions A Quadruple Champion, quadruple champion in boxing refers to a boxer who has won world titles in four List of boxing weight classes, different categories of weight. Recognition Major sanctioning bodies There is some dispute on which sanctioning bo ...


Notes and references


Notes


References


Video references


External links

*
Leo Santa Cruz – Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings
a
Box.Live
{{DEFAULTSORT:Santa Cruz, Leo Boxers from Michoacán World Boxing Association champions World Boxing Council champions International Boxing Federation champions World bantamweight boxing champions World featherweight boxing champions World super-bantamweight boxing champions 1988 births Living people People from Huetamo Mexican male boxers Lightweight boxers 21st-century Mexican sportsmen