by David P. Greisman

Leo Santa Cruz had just fought and won against by far the most accomplished opponent he’d ever faced. Nevertheless, it didn’t take too long after this victory over Abner Mares for people to look toward his next best available option.

Those who were looking forward to Santa Cruz-Mares felt that way because they believed the fighters’ aggressive styles would mesh well. They were right. The bout this past Saturday was enjoyable, with Mares coming out aggressively and Santa Cruz responding, adjusting, and then using a combination of volume punching and footwork to take a clear majority decision.

But those who were looking forward to Santa Cruz-Mares also had to wait through some frustrating times. It said a lot that Santa Cruz was only just now stepping up to this level of opposition. It said a lot that Mares was only just now returning to facing this quality of foe.

It’s funny to think that, given that Santa Cruz burst on the scene just a little more than three years ago. From June through December 2012 he appeared on television four times, capturing a world title at bantamweight and defending it three times, garnering attention and cultivating the beginning of a fan base with a style that seemingly started with offense and ended with even more offense.

He moved up to 122 in 2013, stopping a faded former 115-pound titleholder in Alexander Munoz and then scoring a technical knockout over Victor Terrazas. The win against Terrazas got Santa Cruz a belt in a second weight class. He defended it three times, outpointing a former 115-pound title challenger in Cesar Seda, taking a wide decision over former 115-pound titleholder Cristian Mijares, and making short work of Manuel Roman, who was a former sparring partner of Santa Cruz’s.

At first, Mares was one of the top names at 118 while Santa Cruz was still but a prospect on his way up in the division. Then, when Santa Cruz became a titleholder who was still developing while he was defending, Mares always was a division away. He moved to 122 in April 2012. Santa Cruz didn’t go there until May 2013. On that same night, Mares debuted at 126.

There wasn’t much in terms of poundage keeping them apart. But there was no gravitational pull bringing them together either. It was but a fight fan’s fantasy. The reality was they were on seemingly separate tracks rather than a collision course.

Then Mares was shockingly stopped in one round against Jhonny Gonzalez in August 2013. After an injury canceled their planned rematch, Mares spent the better part of the last two years rebuilding against lesser opposition, first under a new trainer in Virgil Hunter, then back with old trainer Clemente Medina.

Santa Cruz finally moved up to 126 earlier this year. But like a couple of anticipated matches between top fighters advised by Al Haymon — Danny Garcia vs. Lamont Peterson and the upcoming bout between Daniel Jacobs and Peter Quillin — a fight between Santa Cruz and Mares was on hold until it could come under the auspices of Haymon’s “Premier Boxing Champions” venture of boxing broadcasts.

That’s also why Santa Cruz, like other Haymon stars, spent last year and part of this biding his time against opponents who weren’t expected to win. He wasn’t merely not facing Mares just yet. He was squandering whatever past momentum he had with easy paydays against the likes of Roman, Jesus Ruiz and Jose Cayetano.

Mares hadn’t won against anyone of note at featherweight since his debut win over Daniel Ponce De Leon in May 2013. Nevertheless, Santa Cruz’s performance against Mares this past Saturday puts Santa Cruz into the conversation at featherweight.

As is far too often the case in boxing these days, the conversation must delve into reasons why certain fights can’t be made.

Santa Cruz won’t be seen in the ring with Vasyl Lomachenko, a fellow titleholder who is with rival promoter Top Rank and has been featured on HBO. Nicholas Walters also is with Top Rank, and there’s uncertainty as to whether he can boil down to 126 after he failed to make the limit and lost his title on the scales earlier this year.

Haymon does have others in the division, namely titleholders Jesus Cuellar, Gary Russell Jr. and Lee Selby. There’s also 122-pound titleholder Carl Frampton, who said he had difficulty making the weight for his most recent outing.

We shouldn’t anticipate that Santa Cruz will be put into another major fight next. That’s not the manner of operations for many promoters and managers these days, not when they can get multiple paydays for the individual boxers first before sacrificing one off and potentially losing some of his marketability.

Of the three potential opponents presently at 126, it’s Russell who seems the most intriguing. He did lose a majority decision to Lomachenko in 2014, one of the incredibly rare instances in which a Haymon fighter faced someone from a stable that does not have a working relationship with the adviser. Russell bounced back with a win against a lower-level opponent before blasting out Jhonny Gonzalez this past March.

Russell has the dynamic combination of speed and power that could make for a particularly interesting pairing with Santa Cruz.

There will of course be others who end up facing Santa Cruz first. Matchmakers have a knack for finding foes who haven’t been heard of or hadn’t recently been thought of as worthy of such an opportunity. There’s a second and third tier of featherweights who could be fed to Santa Cruz and his stablemates while building toward another big fight.

There’s also the possibility of the winner of the Sept. 12 bout between Jhonny Gonzalez and Jonathan Oquendo being a potential opponent. Santa Cruz vs. Gonzalez would be fun for as long as it lasted, perhaps even more fun than the Gonzalez-Mares rematch that would still be viable even in the state each presently is in.

Mares also wants a rematch with Santa Cruz, thinking their fight was closer than was otherwise indicated on two of the three judges’ scorecards.

Fighters with styles like that of Santa Cruz and Mares don’t have extended primes. ‘ Mares’ best run came in a seven-fight stretch over the course of three years, when he faced a tough slate of bantamweight opponents — drawing with Yonnhy Perez, outpointing Vic Darchinyan once and Joseph Agbeko twice — before moving up, staying busy with Eric Morel, outworking Anselmo Moreno, and taking out Ponce De Leon.

The loss to Gonzalez might have been a sign of Mares’ sudden decline. More likely it precipitated it. He’s 29 and now needs to adjust, including making sure the members of his corner don’t give him conflicting instructions or the wrong strategy between rounds.

But Mares at least had that good run against good opponents. Santa Cruz has just beaten his first. He’s 27, and if he’s like others he should be entering his best years in the sport.

It’d be a waste if these best years weren’t spent challenging himself, and potentially distinguishing himself, against as many of the best as he can face.

The 10 Count

1.  I doubt this past weekend’s pay-per-view rematch between Shane Mosley and Ricardo Mayorga sold that well, and I don’t think it would’ve sold that well even had the “Premier Boxing Champions” card featuring Abner Mares vs. Leo Santa Cruz not aired on standard cable on ESPN.

There are just too many other pay-per-views coming up. Many people, for some reason, will buy Floyd Mayweather vs. Andre Berto in September. Some will buy Gennady Golovkin vs. David Lemieux in October. A bunch will get Miguel Cotto vs. Canelo Alvarez in November. Mosley may still have a comparative handful of passionate fans, yet it’s still difficult to imagine that enough of them were willing to fork over $50 to make this event profitable.

The other reason Mosley-Mayorga 2 likely didn’t do well on pay-per-view is the reason why Mosley did well in the ring this past Saturday. Mayorga is done. His poor condition and even poorer performance showed that he was only there for a paycheck.

Mayorga’s glory days were in 2003, when he beat Vernon Forrest twice. He lost to Cory Spinks at the end of the year in a close bout, and soon became the designated opponent for comebacking stars. Felix Trinidad beat him in 2004. So did Oscar De La Hoya in 2006. Mayorga was still good enough to beat a finished Fernando Vargas in 2007, but he disappeared for a while after Mosley knocked him out in the final second of their first fight back in 2008.

There was one fight at the end of 2010. He lost to Miguel Cotto in another last-round knockout in 2011. He masqueraded as a mixed martial artist in 2013. He began boxing again last year. He’s 41. His chin is still there. So is his penchant for trash talk and taunting and whatever else is needed to sell a promotion.

That’s about it.

2.  Shane Mosley turns 44 on Sept. 7. It was one thing when he lost to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2010 after hurting Mayweather early. One-sided losses to Manny Pacquiao and Canelo Alvarez only accentuated that Mosley was no longer able to compete with world-class competition. He could beat the Pablo Canos of the world as he did in 2013, but then he got stopped by Anthony Mundine later that year and retired weeks later.

Mosley says his back was injured back then and that it’s fine now. He clearly took training seriously, unlike Mayorga, all while financing and promoting this fight. He could end up proving his doubters wrong. It’s hard to imagine that happening, though. It’s more likely that it’ll take Mosley taking more punishment and another loss, both of which would be unnecessary.

They say that power is the last thing to go in a fighter. In reality, it is actually his pride that remains long past when the boxer should.

3.  Sometimes it seems as if those in boxing are deliberately trolling fans and fighters with their statements. Actually, it often seems that way. And it works.

There’s no other way longtime Floyd Mayweather team member Leonard Ellerbe could take critiques of Andre Berto’s recent record and keep a straight face while comparing it with that of Manny Pacquiao.

“You guys have to stop degrading these fighters,” Ellerbe was quoted as saying. “It’s like, somebody mentioned to me, ‘Oh, he's 3-3 in his last six fights.’ So is Manny Pacquiao! He's 3-3 in his last six fights. Miguel Cotto, another future Hall of Famer, he's lost two of his last five fights. What does it mean? They are all great fighters. I know Berto can fight. I know he is coming to get the win.”

Berto’s losses were in wars with Victor Ortiz, Robert Guerrero and Jesus Soto-Karass. His wins were over Jan Zaveck, Steve Upsher Chambers and Josesito Lopez. His last victory over anyone even approximating a notable name was either his 2010 stoppage of Carlos Quintana or his 2009 decision over Luis Collazo.

Pacquiao’s losses were a highly controversial decision to Tim Bradley, a one-punch knockout via Juan Manuel Marquez, and the recent one-sided decision loss to Mayweather. His wins were over the overmatched Brandon Rios and Chris Algieri and a decision over Bradley in their rematch.

One of these things is not like the others.

4.  Of course, this is par for the course for so many in boxing. People will say anything to defend making a fight against someone who doesn’t deserve it and they will say anything to defend not making a fight against someone who does.

When light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson says of Jean Pascal…

“If he wants to compete against me, he will have to be the mandatory challenger,” Stevenson was quoted as saying. "He gave up his seat, which would have allowed him to face me. I will not give him a shot. Let him follow the same steps as everyone else who is aspiring to become number one. I had to do it myself. Nobody gave me a shot to help me to get to where I am.”

…the reporter needs to ask Stevenson why the lesser opponents he’s faced such as Sakio Bika and, soon, Tommy Karpency, didn’t need to jump through the same hoops.

When Floyd Mayweather derides Amir Khan as having “Danny Garcia problems” that need to be taken care of first, the reporter needs to ask why that same standard wasn’t held up for Berto.

In the end, though, boxers and managers and promoters don’t need to be logically consistent. They’re in the business of making fights, not making sense. We subsidize them when they do the former, even when they often don’t do the latter.

5.  A few weeks back, we covered the politics of light heavyweight, looking at the respective stables of 175-pounders signed with adviser Al Haymon and promoter Main Events, then perusing through the rankings to see how — and if — they could be paired up with each other.

Things are looking clearer now that four fighters have accepted a pair of elimination bouts.

Isaac Chilemba (who is with Main Events and was ranked No. 1 by the WBC and No. 5 by the IBF) actually had the ability to choose between both, thanks to others ranked by the IBF turning down the eliminator or not being available. Chilemba went with the WBC.

No. 2 with the WBC was Andrzej Fonfara (Haymon), but he has an October fight against Nathan Cleverly. The next person down was Eleider Alvarez (Haymon), who accepted.

Nobody is No. 1 in the IBF ratings last updated in early August, thanks to Nadjib Mohammedi’s (Main Events) loss to Sergey Kovalev (Main Events) in July. No. 2 is Artur Beterbiev  (Haymon), who accepted the fight.

No. 3 was Bernard Hopkins (Golden Boy), who turned it down. So did Erik Skoglund (Sauerland) at No. 4; he has a fight this September. No. 5 was Chilemba (Main Events). No. 6 was Fonfara (Haymon). No. 7 was Seanie Monaghan (Top Rank), who also turned it down, as did No. 8 Jean Pascal (Interbox), who suffered an injury in a recent fight. Way down at No. 9 is Sullivan Barrera, also with Main Events. He accepted the fight.

So we could get Alvarez vs. Chilemba and Beterbiev vs. Barrera. Of course these fights still need to be negotiated, or else they’ll go to purse bid. And it’ll be interesting to see how those purse bids go, if Haymon will dig deep into his pockets to keep those fights within his “Premier Boxing Champions” channels and/or Showtime.

Neither Chilemba nor Barrera has been getting pushed on HBO, aside from one far-from-thrilling Chilemba appearance earlier this year. There wouldn’t be any of the contractual obligations or relationship maintenance like that which kept titleholder Kovalev from accepting a fight with champion Adonis Stevenson (Haymon) earlier this year.

The winner of Alvarez-Chilemba is in a position to face Stevenson. The winner of Beterbiev vs. Barrera is in line for a shot at Kovalev.

There’s so much more that will shake out over time.

6.  That was some sanctioning body business. Now for some sanctioning body silliness. Please stay with me here:

- For years, Chris John was the World Boxing Association’s “super” champion at 126, by virtue of his extended reign earning him an upgrade from a sanctioning body that likes to have “super” titleholders, regular titleholders and interim titleholders in the same division at the same time. He wasn’t the only “super” titleholder at 126 for a short time. So, too, was Yuriorkis Gamboa, who went from regular to super when he unified his regular WBA belt with the IBF title.

- In late 2012, Nicholas Walters won the vacant regular WBA belt.

- In August 2013, Jesus Cuellar won the interim WBA belt in a fight with Claudio Marrero.

- Simpiwe Vetyeka beat John in December 2013 to become the new “super” titleholder.

- Nonito Donaire beat Vetyeka in May 2014 to become the new “super” titleholder.

- Donaire and Walters fought in October 2014. Walters won to become the new “super” titleholder.

- Cuellar remained the interim titleholder for nearly a year and a half, being upgraded to “regular” titleholder sometime between February and March 2015.

- Carlos Zambrano beat Daniel Ramirez in March 2015 to become the new “interim” titleholder, as if one was needed.

- Walters lost his “super” title at the scales in June, coming in overweight prior to his win over Miguel Marriaga.

- That should mean there would be no more “super” titleholder until someone earns (cough cough) that recognition. Alas, that’s not the case.

- With Cuellar as regular titleholder and Zambrano as the interim titleholder, the WBA somehow still saw fit to sanction this past weekend’s fight between Leo Santa Cruz and Abner Mares as being for its “super” title. Mares had been ranked No. 2 as of mid-August; Santa Cruz, as a titleholder in another division for another sanctioning body, was not listed. Nothing about Mares-Santa Cruz being for the WBA “super” title was mentioned in pre-fight press releases; the WBA told BoxingScene’s Rick Reeno that the decision came just days before the bout. Santa Cruz won.

- “[It was due] to the path of the boxers. After studying their records and achievements, at our discretion they were among the top five featherweights in the world and were given the opportunity to fight for the super championship,” Gilberto Mendoza, the WBA’s vice president, said to Reeno.

- None of this will affect Cuellar, even though it relegates him to the perception of secondary status. He, like Santa Cruz, is with adviser Al Haymon. They’ll either fight eventually or Haymon will put them on other paths.

7.  That’s less bothersome for the fighters involved than is the case at 140, where the announcement went out last week that Adrien Broner and Khabib Allakhverdiev will be fighting this October for the WBA’s regular title at 140.

That belt had belonged to Jessie Vargas, who subsequently went up to 147 and challenged Timothy Bradley. The WBA stripped Vargas sometime between June and July, yet it allowed Danny Garcia to remain its “super” champion — he’s still listed — despite Garcia not having fought at or below 140 since March 2014 and having officially moved the rest of the way up to welterweight for an Aug. 1 fight.

Meanwhile, Jose Benavidez won the interim title at 140 in December from Mauricio Herrera and defended it in May against Jorge Paez Jr.

With Vargas no longer the “regular” titleholder, Benavidez should’ve been elevated. Instead, Broner (No. 2 as of mid-August and coming off a loss to Shawn Porter at 144 pounds) and Allakhverdiev (No. 5 and hasn’t fought since dropping a disputed decision to Vargas back in April 2014) are somehow getting the nod.

Top Rank, which promotes Benavidez, is protesting the sanctioning body’s decision. Broner is with Haymon and Allakhverdiev is with Russian promoter Vladimir Hryunov.

8.  Is that too much sanctioning body stuff for you all? Feel free to go wash all that filth off you and return. I’ll wait, and when you come back we can go more positive with Boxers Behaving Goodly.

You back? Here we go:

- Former light heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver and his namesake boxer son provided school supplies earlier in August to underprivileged kids in Tampa, according to a press release.

- While you might remember Norman Stone best for when he was at his worst — as the foul-mouthed manager and corner man to former heavyweight titleholder John Ruiz — he is still around boxing, and he made local headlines in Massachusetts for some good news.

Stone was featured in a Wicked Local Cambridge article thanks to the work he’s doing training youth and adults who are boxing so as to stay out of trouble. One in the article was a teenager who was getting in fights of the ungloved and illegal variety. Another was a 28-year-old whose tattoos date back to his time spent in gangs.

“Stoney means a lot to me. He treats me like a son and he will bring me anywhere. He went from the heavyweight champion of the world right to me,” the 13-year-old was quoted as saying. “He just came out of retirement to train me so I couldn’t be happier.”

9.  Alas, all that rinsing was in vain. It’s time for a Boxers Behaving Badly roundup (or round ‘em up) edition:

- Victor Ortiz is facing misdemeanor charges of assault and battery for allegedly joining with his brother in assaulting a man at a country music concert, according to TMZ.

- Dicky Eklund — a former pro who was better known in recent years as Micky Ward’s half-brother and trainer — is facing domestic violence accusations after allegedly grabbing a woman “by the arm and [throwing] her to the ground, resulting in bruising on the victim's arm and chest,” according to Massachusetts TV station WCVB.

- Three years ago, light heavyweight Yathomas Riley was released from jail and prosecutors dropped an attempted murder charge against him. Riley had said his girlfriend was suicidal, and an investigation done by the Miami New Times uncovered enough that he was set free. Now he’s accused of killing a different woman — his wife — and again blames suicide, according to the New Times and Georgia television station WALB. He’s also accused of putting a gun to her head in a different incident a month before then, and is facing charges for allegedly “shooting at rafters floating on a river,” according to WALB. Riley, 33, last fought in 2013, losing a decision that brought him to 8-1 with 6 KOs.

- Antowyan Aikens — a super middleweight/light heavyweight who is 10-1 with 1 KO — is accused of punching and choking the mother of his children, according to New Jersey newspaper The Press of Atlantic City. Aikens last fought in May 2015.

- Santiago Valdez — who fought pro largely between 1975 and 1981 and then sporadically afterward, going 16-10 with 12 KOs — was sentenced to 28 years in prison for an attempted rape, according to The (Muncie, Indiana) Star-Press. Valdez was also found guilty of rape in a different case two decades ago.

- And in an update, Texas fighter Joel Garcia had his trial postponed. Garcia is accused of driving drunk and crashing into another vehicle, killing three people. But a judge ruled that a blood test couldn’t be used in trial as it was done without a warrant, according to TV station KVIA, which said police took Garcia’s blood “because nurses were about to give Garcia medication, which would have altered his blood chemistry.” The 24-year-old has another case involving drunk-driving allegations scheduled for Sept. 22. Garcia fought from 2010 to 2014 between flyweight and junior featherweight, going 7-3 with 1 KO.

10.  This past weekend brought the earthshaking headline that Rod Stewart will perform prior to the Oct. 24 fight between heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko and undefeated challenger Tyson Fury.

As a former music store manager, I’m ashamed to admit a lack of familiarity with a catalog of songs that dates back 54 years.

Going by song titles alone, I’d be amused if Stewart opened with “People Get Ready” and then came out afterward with “It’s Over.”

Alas, if only Stewart would’ve appeared back in 2003 at the fight between heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis and Wladimir’s older brother, Vitali. One of his greatest hits would’ve been quite appropriate:

“The First Cut Is the Deepest.”

“Fighting Words” appears every Monday on BoxingScene.com. Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide . Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com