Santa Cruz vs. Mares: Are they fighting to regain respect?

By Boxing News - 08/26/2015 - Comments

mares#12(Photo credit: Casino/Showtime) By Gerardo Granados: Next August 29 at the Staples Center, Los Angeles, California; two former champions will engage in a fight that could decide the future for both, one will stay wondering what went wrong meanwhile the other will move on to bigger things better fights and purses.

WBC super-bantam belt holder Leo Santa Cruz will have his most difficult fight in the past two years, once he was perceived as potentially a future boxing star but after hand pick three opponents in a row and have looked poor against club fighter Jose Cayetano it’s hard to believe he is living his best moment right now.

On the other corner Mares lost his way after been brutally knocked out by Jhonny Gonzalez back in 2013, and after having faced low quality opposition on his next three bouts it’s hard to tell if his chin will hold against a power puncher once more time.

I wonder if this bout can be as good as the Morales vs Barrera bout was and if Mares will also fight dirty as he did in the past against Joseph Agbeko and Vik Darchinyan, after all Marco Antonio was dirty on times against Erik.

Perhaps the reason why fight fans don’t have a huge interest in this bout isn’t only because the promotion was weak to say the least but also because the disappointing matchmaking of both Mares and Santa Cruz last bouts.

Casual fans can be misled with ease but hard core fans do know how Leo called out super bantam Champion Guillermo Rigondeaux and then argued that his manager would not allow him to fight El Chacal; also the reader must remember how Abner pulled out of the Jhonny Gonzalez rematch with the lame excuse of a rib injury.

A boxer will always be able to redeem himself on his next bout if he is able to deliver an epic battle. They say that a hurt lion is more dangerous, but could it be that the hurt pride of a fighter can propel him to prove to fight fans to be the best ring warrior instead of just try to win a fancy belt specially built for the occasion?

I think that the game plan for this bout is very simple and they should do what they do best and try to exploit all of his opponent weakness; and what is most important for them is to take this chance to regain respect from fight fans and show their heart and hunger from start to finish.

The bet odds are close, I guess Leo can win a close competitive decision but I am not sure if they will regain fight fans respect without taking risk inside the ring. But what about the reader, do you think they are fighting for respect?



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