LAS VEGAS – Gary Russell Jr. and Gervonta Davis are the two potential opponents Leo Santa Cruz mentions most.
Though the long-discussed Russell fight still hasn’t happened, Santa Cruz considers those matches makeable because all three boxers work with advisor Al Haymon. There’s another high-profile fight Santa Cruz would welcome, even though it’d require Haymon to work with an adversary, Hall-of-Fame promoter Bob Arum.
“When Lomachenko was at 126, 130, I said hopefully one day I could fight him,” Santa Cruz told BoxingScene.com before a press conference Wednesday at MGM Grand. “Because he’s a great fighter and I would like to get in the ring with him.”
Ukraine’s Lomachenko has fought at 135 pounds for the past 18 months, but Santa Cruz still wants to test himself against the highly skilled southpaw, preferably at 130 pounds.
“Lomachenko’s a great fighter,” Santa Cruz said. “But I also see flaws in him. When he faces fighters who put pressure on him, he don’t know what to do. He don’t like it.”
The 31-year-old Santa Cruz is focused for now on meeting Miguel Flores in Santa Cruz’s 130-pound debut Saturday night at MGM Grand Garden Arena. Santa Cruz (36-1-1, 19 KOs), of Rosemead, California, and Houston’s Flores (24-2, 12 KOs) will fight for the WBA “super” 130-pound championship Davis vacated to move up to the lightweight limit of 135.
FOX Sports will air Santa Cruz-Flores as part of its pay-per-view undercard before Deontay Wilder defends his WBC heavyweight title versus Luis Ortiz in a 12-round rematch (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT; $74.95 in HD).
Lomachenko, meanwhile, could face the winner of the Richard Commey-Teofimo Lopez fight next. Ghana’s Commey (29-2, 26 KOs) will defend his IBF lightweight title when he opposes Lopez (14-0, 11 KOs) on December 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Fighting the Commey-Lopez winner would afford Lomachenko (14-1, 10 KOs) a chance to add the only recognized lightweight title he hasn’t owned to his resume. Arum also has mentioned the possibility of the two-time Olympic gold medalist returning to the 130-pound division, something Santa Cruz considers a smart move for the former WBO junior lightweight champion.
“With the bigger guys, he’s moving up too much in weight,” Santa Cruz said. “I think 130 is the best weight class for him, because those other guys are gonna be too big.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
