Leo Santa Cruz Shines in Victory Over Kiko Martinez

By Anthony “Stacks” Saldaña (At ringside)
Photos by Cynthia “Cindy Lou” Saldaña (At ringside)

Saturday night at the Honda Center in Anaheim California Hometown hero Leo “El Famoso Terremoto” Santa Cruz, 32-0-1, 18 KO’s retained his WBA Featherweight Championship title in an all out action war vs. Kiko “La Sensación” Martínez, 35-7, 26 KO’s. From the opening round Leo was throwing punches in bunches, and those punches hurt his opponent as Santa Cruz dropped Kiko twice. Kiko beat the count both times and narrowly escaped the 1st round. Santa Cruz continued the onslaught of punches in the 2nd when Martinez came forward with a combination and Leo slipped on the canvas. Santa Cruz was always one step ahead of Kiko throughout the fight and in the 5th Raul Caiz stepped in at the 2 minute 9 second mark to stop the brutal attack.“He is a really tough fighter, he was able to take the punches,” Santa Cruz said.

“I was really close to getting him out of there in the first round but, you know, he survived. “I was catching him with good punches, he was catching me with some punches and we were pleasing the fans,” Santa Cruz said. “Then my dad told me to be smart and move, and I started boxing.” With the victory Leo is now expected by fight fans to step up and challenge some of the big names in a jammed packed division. “I want Frampton,” Santa Cruz said in the ring after his victory. “He said he wants to move up in weight so bring it on.” Frampton was victorious today vs Scott Quigg in England and match vs Santa Cruz could be a fight of the year candidate.

In the Co-main event Julio Ceja, 30-2, 27 KO’s battled Hugo Ruiz, 36-3, 32 KO’s in a rematch of classic mexican war that took place last August at the Staples center. This time Hugo would walk out of the ring with the WBC Super Bantamweight title. Ruiz who was stopped in the fifth round of their first bout, needed less than a minute to gain revenge Saturday and capture Ceja’s junior featherweight title via first-round TKO. Ruiz caught Ceja with a heavy right hand counter which absolutely crumbled Ceja. Julio got up off the canvas but his injured his right ankle and left him unable to plant his right leg. Ruiz attacked Julio and the referee stopped the fight at 51 second mark of round 1. Julio was taken from the ring on a stretcher and taken to nearby UC Irvine Medical Center, according to ringside doctor Eddie Ayoub. “He certainly twisted his ankle in the ring,” Ayoub said. “On examination once I got his shoe off, it was certainly deformed. Minimally a dislocation, possibly a fracture.””I was very prepared to knock him out in the first round, but I was also prepared for if the fight was to go 12 rounds,” Ruiz said. “We came very prepared for this fight physically and mentally. Ceja is a very good fighter and I know he will come back.”

in other action Super Lightweight Anthony Flores, 9-0, 5 KO’s from Los Angeles California remained undefeated with TKO over Carlos Aguilera, 10-16, 4 KO’s

Antonio Santa Cruz, 1-2, 1 KO, defeated Jorge Perez, 2-0, 1 KO of West Covina by unanimous decision.

Two time US Olympian Michael Hunter, 10-0, 7 KO’s remained undefeated with a 1st round knockout victory over Phil Williams 15-7-2, 14 KO’s. Hunter moves to 11-0, 8 KO’s

Min Wook Kim, 13-1,11 KO’s was victorious with a UD over Alvaro Ortiz, 7-7-1, 5 KO in a 8 round Super Lightweight bout.

Ceferino Rodriguez, 20-1, 11 KO’s took on veteran Edgar Riovalle, 37-19-2, 26 KO’s in a 6 round Welterweight bout, Rodriguez won easily as all three judges had it 60-54 in favor of Rodriguez.

Rey Vargas, 26-0, 21 KO’s stayed undefeated with a 3rd round TKO victory over Christian Esquivel, 28-9, 21 KO’s, and Dominican Claudio Marrero, 20-1, 14 KO’s won a unanimous decision over Jonathan Arellano, 16-7-2, 4 KO’s in a Featherweight matchup.

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