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August 29, 2015 Abner Mares vs Leo Santa Cruz at Staples Center, Los Angeles, California USA for the WBA Super World Featherweight Title

The staples center was on Saturday night, the 29th of august yet again the center of another round of exciting boxing matches. Top on the list was the long awaited match between two featherweights each looking for a big win. Who else but Leo Santa Cruz and Abner Mares. After being challenged to take on a competitive fighter Cruz agreed to a match with Mares and Saturday night was the night the Abner Mares vs Leo Santa Cruz showdown was to take place.

In front of a crowd of slightly over 13,000 fans, Mares appeared to be taking control of the match early in the first round. Within the first rounds, it was clear to the fans that Mares was still a high-level fighter especially after doubts emerged of his competitiveness after his knockout loss to Jhonny Gonzalez. A clash of heads into the third round left Mares’s face covered in blood. However, in the middle rounds, Cruz started to control the game and as the fans cheered him on, he increased his punches.
With composed but patient attacking, Cruz was able to land more clean shots over Mares and it was clear that he was seriously looking for the win. In the eighth round, Cruz landed a combination of four punches that left Mares, 29 leaning on the 27-year old current super-bantamweight world champion so that he would not inflict further damages. In the 12th round, Mares re-emerged with vicious attacking on Cruz and it became vehemently clear that he was looking for a knockout to settle the bout. However, Cruz was able to avoid him appropriately and succeeded in landing a superb left to the head in the dying moments. With the final whistle blowing, it became apparent that it became clear that the judge’s decision would settle the fight. The decision was 114-114 and 117-111 (twice) in favor of Cruz. With the win, Cruz also went home with the WBA honorary super featherweight title.

However, earlier in the night there was another entertaining fight pitting Julio Ceja and Hugo Ruiz. In this bout, Ceja needed a dramatic return from a third round knockdown to brawl Ruiz in the fifth round with a knockout of his own.

Having opened the night on equal terms, Ceja was sent reeling to the floor in the third round and had to contend with a serious beating before the end of the round. However, Ceja recovered well and in a dramatic comeback, he felled Ruiz with a knockdown two rounds later. In this dramatic comeback, Ceja was standing in the center of the ring and threw a straight left to the head of Ruiz that saw Ruiz’s head say hello to the canvas.
Upon rising, Ruiz was welcomed with a flurry of punches by Ceja that left him defenseless forcing the referee to stop the match two minutes and 34 seconds into the fifth round. With the Win, Ceja took home the WBC interim Super bantamweight championship.
These are the highlights of the staples center on Saturday night. Hope you enjoy yourself and have a nice day. See you soon.

With the win, Santa Cruz also went home with the WBA honorary super featherweight title. The match statistics indicate Cruz had a higher connection rate. Cruz had a total connection rate of 35% having connected 373 out of the 1,057 punches he threw. Mares, on the other hand, had a connection rate of 23% having connected 227 of 980 shots that he threw.

At the end of it all Cruz maintained his undefeated streak (31-0-1) while Mares bounced back (29-2-1).

Now we will just wait and see whether a rematch between the two will materialize any time soon. Congratulations to the winner and good luck to the loser next time.

These are the highlights of the staples center on Saturday night. Hope you enjoy yourself and have a nice day. See you soon.