Leo Santa Cruz, Miguel Flores - Go Face To Face at LA Presser

Published Thu Jan 3, 2019, 11:08 PM

Featherweight world champion Leo "El Terremoto" Santa Cruz will defend his WBA title against Houston's Miguel Flores in a showdown that headlines Premier Boxing Champions on FOX and FOX Deportes Saturday, February 16 from Microsoft Theater at L.A. Live in Los Angeles.

Televised coverage begins at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT and features an exciting 12-round junior welterweight clash between unbeaten former champion Omar Figueroa and hard-hitting John Molina Jr.

Tickets for the show, which is promoted by TGB Promotions and Ringstar Sports are on sale now, and can be purchased at AXS.com.

A three-division world champion fighting out of Los Angeles, Santa Cruz (35-1-1, 19 KOs) enters this fight after completing a second exciting duel against Abner Mares that again saw Santa Cruz edge his rival on the scorecards. The 30-year-old will make the third defense of his title after he claimed the 126-pound belt from Carl Frampton in 2017, avenging the defeat he suffered to Frampton the year before. Santa Cruz has competed in title bouts in 15 of his last 17 fights, while picking up belts at 118, 122 and 126-pounds.

Flores (23-2, 11 KOs) was born in Mexico, but was raised and fights out of Houston. The 26-year-old rose up the rankings with victories over Ryan Kielczweski, Ruben Tamayo and Mario Briones. After suffering a setback defeat to Dat Nguyen, Flores was ahead on the scorecards against Chris Avalos in a fight on FS1 when the contest was stopped due to a cut on Flores' eyebrow that was controversially ruled to have come from a punch. Flores bounced back in his last fight to stop Raul Chirino in April.

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Figueroa (27-0-1, 19 KOs) made a name for himself with his relentless style that led to him capturing a lightweight title against Nihito Arakawa in a memorable 2013 clash. Representing Weslaco, Texas, Figueroa went on to defend his title twice before defeating former multiple-division champion Ricky Burns in 2015. The 29-year-old followed that up with a victory over Antonio DeMarco and after an injury layoff, came back in 2017 to drop Robert Guerrero five times on his way to a stoppage victory on FOX.

Molina (30-7, 24 KOs) has never backed down from a challenge and has been in the ring with some of the best boxers from lightweight to welterweight during his career. The 35-year-old from Covina, California beat a fierce Ruslan Provodnikov by unanimous decision in 2016. Another standout battle from Molina's career saw him drop former welterweight champion Lucas Matthysse twice before losing on an 11th round knockout. In his last fight he scored a fourth round TKO victory over Ivan Redkach in a back-and-forth bout from last December on FS1.