Leo Santa Cruz touts fight with Abner Mares as crowning 'King of L.A.'
Undefeated two-division champion champion Leo Santa Cruz believes that besides himself, the biggest winner in his Aug. 29 fight against three-division champion Abner Mares will be the city and the fans of Los Angeles.
Santa Cruz, who celebrated his 27th birthday on Monday, said during a media workout Tuesday that the fact that he and Mares are both from the City of Angels makes their Premier Boxing Champions fight at Staples Center (ESPN, 10 p.m. ET) a rather big deal.
"We both have our fan base in Los Angeles and this fight will determine who is the king and who gets all the fans," said Santa Cruz (30-0-1, 16 KOs), who will be fighting at featherweight for the second time, and first since his 126-pound debut against Jose Cayetano on the undercard of the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight on May 2.
His father and trainer, Jose Santa Cruz, agreed.
"This is a huge party for Los Angeles," the trainer said. "They are both from L.A. and everything about this fight is Los Angeles.
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"(Leo) is going to be on top of things the minute he needs to be. But he's going to fight with intelligence. It's a big fight, my son and Abner are very popular and I'm sure it's going to be a great fight."
Santa Cruz, working out at the Who's Next Boxing Academy in La Puente, Calif., said this was also a classic Mexican vs. Mexican matchup.
"With two Mexicans fighting, it's always a war," said El Terremoto (The Earthquake), considered one of the best pure boxers in the sport. "There have been a lot of great battles like that in the past and I think this will be, too. We could end up with a trilogy of fights."
Mares (29-1-1, 15 KOs) was on the fast track to stardom before being derailed by veteran Jhonny Gonzalez, who knocked Mares out in the first round two years ago and took his WBC featherweight title. Mares, 29, has rebounded with three victories since, but facing Santa Cruz is without a doubt the biggest challenge of his 10-year career.
He said from his training camp that Santa Cruz took the wrong fight.
"I'm stronger than ever and if he thinks I'm vulnerable now, he'll see how wrong he is," Mares said. "I'm strong mentally and physically. This is our fight for dominance in LA."
"I wanted this fight three years ago and they said I wasn't on Mares' level," Santa Cruz said. "I said I was going to work hard to get on that level so one day we can make it happen and here we are.
"This is the toughest fighter I've faced. A fight against him will be the biggest of my career. Even bigger than my first title. Mares has a bigger name, everything is bigger."
Santa Cruz believes Mares has reinvented himself since his loss to Gonzalez.
"I think Abner moves more since his loss to Jhonny Gonzalez," said Santa Cruz. "He knows this fight is very important for him. There's a lot to lose for him, too. I think he's going to bring everything this fight. That makes it an even better fight for the fans."