Leo Santa Cruz: record, next fight and profile →
The long wait will finally be over for 32 year-old Vusi “Marvellous” Malinga when he fights Leo Santa Cruz for the vacant IBF bantamweight title at the Home Depot Centre in Los Angeles on June 2.
LOS ANGELES – A mix of boxing legends, undefeated contenders and a current world champion converged in Los Angeles for a wild, emotional and often heated press conference on Monday to formally announce the upcoming Saturday, June 2 Quadrupleheader live on SHOWTIME® from The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.:
This comes after Abner Mares, also from Mexico, vacated the belt to move up in weight and will exchange leather with Eric Morel in a WBC junior-featherweight title fight on Saturday. "This is a perfect opportunity for me to win a credible world title," said Malinga, a former WBC international and WBA Pan African champion. Malinga's promoter, Branco Milenkovic, said negotiations with Golden Boy Promotions for Malinga's slugfest with the US-based Cruz were at an advanced stage. Schaefer said: "We are trying to finalise it. We made a strong offer and we've done business with Branco before and we've never had problems. "We treated each other with respect."
Daniel Ponce De Leon started his 2012 on Saturday night better than he finished his 2011, stopping Omar Estrella in six rounds, looking something like his old, crushing self and rebounding from two losses in a row suffered last year.
Plaza Mexico, Mexico City - Former interim junior middleweight world champion Nobuhiro Ishida of Japan stopped Mexico's Edson Espinoza in the first round. Ishida caught Espinoza right on the chin, who went down and couldn't get to his feet. Ishida raised his record to 23-6, 9KOs.
By Jake Donovan - Red hot prospect Leo Santa Cruz scored his seventh straight knockout on Saturday evening, turning back the challenge of former title challenger Evert Briceno in their Televisa-televised main event live from the International Center in Mazatlan, Mexico. It was hardly an easy night’s work for the standout bantamweight prospect, who had to work hard in order to preserve his undefeated record but eventually surged ahead in the second half of the bout.
BoxingScene.com has been advised that undefeated super flyweight contender Leodegario [Leo] Santa Cruz (16-0-1, 8KOs) has re-signed a new long term management agreement with his long-time manager Cameron Dunkin. Santa Cruz, who on Friday knocked out former champion Jose Lopez within five rounds in California, is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions.
By Jake Donovan - Highly touted bantamweight prospect Leo Santa Cruz passed his stiffest test to date with flying colors after registering a fifth round knockout over former titlist Jose Lopez on Friday evening at Fantasy Spring Casino in Indio, California. The official time was 2:35 into the fifth round of their scheduled eight-round main event, which aired live on Telefutura’s Solo Boxeo Tecate series.
LOS ANGELES – Fight fans will get a sizzling preview of Golden Boy Promotions’ hottest summer yet on Friday, June 3 at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, Calif. in a fight card stacked with Southern California talent. In the TeleFutura “Sólo Boxeo Tecate” televised main event, Lincoln Heights’ unbeaten rising star Leo “Terremoto” Santa Cruz (15-0-1, 7 KO’s) looks to keep his “0” intact against former World Champion Jose “Carita” Lopez (39-9-2, 32 KO’s) of Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico in an eight round bantamweight fight.
Coachella, Calif. - An open workout was held at the Coachella Boxing Club with undefeated Southern California prospects Leo Santa Cruz (Lincoln Heights), Luis Ramos Jr. (Santa Ana) and Randy Caballero (Coachella). All three were preparing for their upcoming bouts on the June 3 edition of TeleFutura's "Sólo Boxeo Tecate" at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, Calif.