By Keith Idec
Leo Santa Cruz is sure he’ll finally fight Gary Russell Jr. later this year.
Regardless, Santa Cruz won’t move up from featherweight to 130 pounds without having faced Russell. If he did that, Santa Cruz realizes fans will criticize him for avoiding what is perceived to be his most imposing opponent at 126 pounds.
“I want it, the fans want it and I need those fights to unify,” Santa Cruz told BoxingScene.com on Thursday following a press conference in Los Angeles. “I wanna move up to 130, and if I don’t get the Gary Russell fight, I’m not gonna be able to move up to 130. If I just move to 130, they’re gonna be like, ‘Oh, Leo was scared of [Russell]. That’s why he moved up in weight.’ So first, I wanna finish business against [Russell], and then I could happily move up to 130.”
First, though, the 30-year-old Santa Cruz (35-1-1, 19 KOs) must successfully defend his WBA “super” world featherweight title against Houston’s Miguel Flores (23-2, 11 KOs) on February 16. The Santa Cruz-Flores fight will headline a “Premier Boxing Champions on FOX” telecast that night from Microsoft Theater at L.A. Live in Los Angeles.
If Santa Cruz defeats Flores, the Rosemead, California, resident hopes to face Russell in his following fight.
“I’m pretty sure it’s gonna happen this year,” Santa Cruz said. “There have been talks. In 2018, I only fought one time. In 2019, I was told I was gonna fight three times, and that Gary Russell might be one of those fights.”
Whenever they eventually encounter one another, Santa Cruz anticipates a difficult but winnable bout against a fast, strong southpaw who has lost only to Vasiliy Lomachenko.
“I know it’s gonna be a tough fight because his speed is really good, and he has good power and everything, too,” Santa Cruz said. “But like I say, timing beats speed and I think I can work on the timing. I have sparred with fighters that are really fast, and I time them and do really good against them. So, I think with my pressure, working the body and breaking him down, I think that’s gonna be a challenge to him.”
The 29-year-old Russell (29-1, 17 KOs), of Capitol Heights, Maryland, doesn’t have a fight scheduled. The WBC world featherweight champion hasn’t boxed since he beat Joseph Diaz Jr. (27-1, 14 KOs) by unanimous decision in their 12-rounder May 19 in Oxon Hill, Maryland.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
