Léo Santa Cruz

Léo Santa Cruz

Léodegario Santa Cruz is a Mexican professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in four weight classes. He is ranked sixth in the world by the TBRB and tenth by BoxRec. As an amateur, Santa Cruz compiled a record of 148 wins and 7 losses.

About Léo Santa Cruz in brief

Summary Léo Santa CruzLéodegario Santa Cruz is a Mexican professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in four weight classes. He is ranked as the world’s ninth best active boxer, pound for pound, by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board. As an amateur, Santa Cruz compiled a record of 148 wins and 7 losses. 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. He went on to win his next thirteen fights, with five coming by stoppage. In April 2012, he beat South African boxer Vusi Malinga via unanimous decision to win the IBF bantamweight title. 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 29 October 2012 a deal was reached for Santa Cruz to make a second defence of the title at the Staples Center in Los Angeles against Victor Zaleta. 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. The fight was Santa Cruz’s third defence in four months against unbeaten Mexican boxer Alberto Guevara. The last time boxing aired on CBS was 15 January 1997 when Bernard Hopkins stopped Glen Johnson one-sided as Santa Cruz won a unanimous decision.

In his first reign as WBA featherweight champion, he held the WBA featherweight title from 2015 to 2016. He also held the WBC super bantamwood title from 2013 to 2015; the WBC featherweights title from 2012 to 2013; and the WBA super featherweighttitle from 2019 to October 2020. As of March 2019, he is ranked sixth in the world by the TBRB and tenth by BoxRec. In January 2018, he reached a peak pound-for-pound ranking of sixth by The Ring magazine, BoxRec, and the Ring magazine. His last title defence was against former two-time world champion Eric Morel on 15 September 2012. On fight night, he wore down Morel with body shots, dominating the fight from the opening bell, forcing Morel to quit on his stool before round 6 began. He landed 277 punches of 509 thrown and Morel landed 73 of his 344 thrown. Santa Cruz landed 291 of 989 punches and 589 of his 793 thrown with 593 thrown in the year he finished the year. He explained the reason for his lower output was because he felt he had fought a lot recently because he had a lower output in his previous bouts but did not throw as much as he did in the previous bouts. He won the fight 116-112, 119-109, and 119-110 in his favour in his last bout against Alberto GueVara on 2 December 2012. The bout was televised on a Showtime boxing card.