(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) By Dan Ambrose: After wiping out his old sparring partner Manuel Roman (17-3-3, 6 KOs) last night by a 2nd round knockout in the co-feature bout on the “Mayhem” card , WBC super bantamweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (28-0-1, 16 KOs) announced that he would like to face unbeaten WBA/WBO super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (14-0, 9 KOs) in a unification match.
Santa Cruz even said that he’s not afraid to fight Rigondeaux, which obviously means very little. A lack of fear on Santa Cruz’s part isn’t going to necessarily get him a win over a talented fighter like Rigondeaux.
We’re not talking about Santa Cruz being put in with a fringe contender from the bantamweight division like we saw last night with him being matched against #13 WBC “Bantamweight” contender Manuel Roman instead of someone from his own division at 122.
“I did my job. That’s what I came for,” Santa Cruz said after wiping out Roman. “I’m not scared of anyone. I want Rigondeaux and I want my manager [Al Haymon] to make the fight to show I am the best.”
Good luck at getting Haymon to match Santa Cruz against Rigondeaux. I don’t see that happening. Santa Cruz, of course, could push for it, but I believe the older, wiser Haymon will talk sense to Santa Cruz and have him fighting another beatable guy in his next fight, preferably not another fringe contender from the bantamweight division like we saw last Saturday night.
Santa Cruz would have a good excuse if he were to lose to Rigondeaux. After all, Rigondeaux is considered to be the best fighter in the 122 pound division. The fallout from losing to Rigondeaux won’t be nearly as bad as it would be for Santa Cruz if he gets beaten by IBF champion Carl Frampton or WBA champion Scott Quigg.
Santa Cruz landed 35 of 75 shots for a 47 percent connect percentage. Roman threw 57 punches and landed only 11 for a connect percentage of 19%, according to Compubox. Roman’s connect percentage was even worse than the 22% connect percentage by Marcos Maidana in his fight last night against WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr in the main event last night.
Santa Cruz landed a nice right hand to the side of Roman’s head in the 2nd round. The punch sent Roman down on the canvas. Referee Robert Byrd then stopped the fight at 0:55 of the round.
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