Leo Santa Cruz Vs Miguel Flores Odds
LAS VEGAS — In the co-main event, Leo 'El Terremoto' Santa Cruz (37-1-1, 19 KOs) became a four-division world champion by capturing the WBA Super Featherweight with a unanimous decision over Miguel Flores (24-3, 12 KOs). 'Winning this title means the world to me,' said Santa Cruz. 'This is all for the fans who support me. Leo Santa Cruz vs Miguel Flores Odds & Picks. Leo Santa Cruz vs Miguel Flores Odds & Picks. By Dylan Bowker in Boxing. Leo Santa Cruz is a three-weight world champion and is looking to become a titlist in a fourth division. Despite this, there is some rhetoric among boxing fans and pundits that Santa Cruz isn’t.
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- Leo Santa Cruz Vs Miguel Flores Odds For Today
- Leo Santa Cruz Vs Miguel Flores Odds 2019
One of the gems on the Showtime-Premier Boxing Champions schedule is set for Oct. 24.
That’s when Gervonta Davis and Leo Santa Cruz are scheduled to fight for titles in two weight divisions – one a secondary belt – in the new Showtime bubble at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Conn.
We’ll see whether the matchup will generate big pay-per-view numbers but it’s difficult to find fault in the main event.
Davis (23-0, 22 KOs) is one of the most-gifted young fighters in the world and resonates with a wide swath of fans. Santa Cruz (37-1-1, 19 KOs) is a proven, volume-punching warhorse who doesn’t appear to be slowing down at 31.
It doesn’t get much better than this is an era when it seems elite fighters work as hard to avoid one another as they do in the ring.
© Provided by Boxing JunkieLeo Santa Cruz (right) outpointed Miguel Flores to win a title in a fourth division. Ryan Hafey / Premier Boxing Champions
And there are already good story lines directly related to the boxing side of the matchup.
The most compelling might be that Davis has agreed to a weight limit of 130 pounds, which will allow him to challenge for Santa Cruz’s WBA junior lightweight title. Davis’ WBA “regular” 135-pound belt also will be on the line but Boxing Junkie doesn’t recognize that title. Vasiliy Lomachenko is the WBA lightweight champion.
Still, the fact the fight is scheduled to take place at 130 pounds is interesting. Davis made the move up to 135 pounds for his last fight, a 12th-round knockout of Yuriorkis Gamboa in July of last year. Can he even make 130 pounds at this point?
Remember, Davis isn’t known for his discipline. He lost his junior lightweight title when he weighed 132 for his fight against Francisco Fonseca on the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor card in 2017. He made 130 for his next three bouts but needed two tries before succeeding against Hugo Ruiz in February of last year. And he initially weighed 136.2 the day before the lightweight fight against Gamboa. He made weight on his second attempt.
Thus, Stephen Espinoza, president of sports and event programming for Showtime, chuckled when he was asked on a conference call whether he was concerned about Davis’ ability to make weight.
“He’s motivated here. I don’t think there will be any problems making weight on this one,” Espinoza said.
Meanwhile, the fact the fight will take place at 130 – and not 135 – probably raises Santa Cruz’s chances of winning twofold. The three-division titleholder from the Los Angeles area was a 126-pounder only two fights ago. And while he outpointed Miguel Flores to win his 130-pound title in his debut at the weight in November, he didn’t look particularly sharp. That raised questions about his effectiveness at 130.
Can Davis make the junior lightweight limit? If he can’t, what will Santa Cruz do? Go through with the fight anyway? And can Santa Cruz be as effective at 130 as he was at lighter weights?
Davis vs. Santa Cruz provides a lot of fodder for discussion.
MORE:Miguel Flores vs. Leo Santa Cruz
Boxing: Saturday February 16, 2019 (MGM Grand Garden Arena)
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Leo Santa Cruz and Miguel Flores fight Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena for the WBA (Super) featherweight title.
Santa Cruz Flores
Leo Santa Cruz enters this fight with a 35-1-1 record that includes 19 knockouts. Santa Cruz has won five of his last seven fights, and he’s coming off a June win over Abner Mares. Santa Cruz has now won three straight fights since his loss to Carl Frampton and will be defending his belt for a third straight fight. Santa Cruz is coming off a dominating performance in which he landed 34 percent of his punches and dodged majority of the big shots from Mares. Santa Cruz is 30 years old, stands at 5’7”, has a 69 inch reach and an orthodox stance. Santa Cruz has some of the quicker hands in the sport and is one of the busiest workers in boxing, as he throws a ton of punches and is always coming forward, looking to be the aggressor at all times. In his last bout, Santa Cruz through over 1,000 punches. Santa Cruz simply won’t be outworked in the ring, making it tough for him to lose a fight if it goes to the judges, as his only career loss was a majority decision to Frampton. While known for his aggressive offense, Santa Cruz is also underrated defensively and does a wonderful job of slipping punches. You almost never see Santa Cruz take a clean shot from his opponent. This will be Santa Cruz’s 11th career fight in Nevada.
Miguel Flores enters this fight with a 23-2 record that includes 11 knockouts. Flores’ has won six of his last eight fights, and he’s coming off an April win over Raul Chirino. Flores is one of those intriguing prospects who has never been given a big break, so this will be his chance to show and prove himself in front of the world. Flores is 26 years old, stands at 5’8”, has a 69 inch reach and an orthodox stance. Flores has experienced losses to Chris Avalos and Dat Nguyen, both in stoppages, which certainly isn’t encouraging entering this bout. However, Flores does have a promising skillset with some quickness and pop in his hands, certainly more than his knockout percentage suggests. Flores does impressive body work and usually follows a clean shot to the ribs with a right hook. Flores usually puts his punches together nicely and has shown he can take a punch despite being stopped twice in his young career. Still, Flores hasn’t been overly impressive when you look at his resume, so this is certainly a chance for him to silence some doubters who have written him off.
Flores has potential and does nice body work that gives him a chance to climb up the rankings in due time. This isn’t a complete joke of a fight like many would think. With that said, Santa Cruz is in no position to lose this bout. Flores is still raw in some areas and hasn’t fought somebody anywhere close in the same class of Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz is too smart, too polished defensively and too aggressive offensively for the young Flores, who said he wants to end this fight within six rounds.
I look for Santa Cruz to win this fight by knockout in the fourth or fifth round.
Leo Santa Cruz Vs Miguel Flores Odds For Today
Randy’s PickLeo Santa Cruz By TKO / KO
