Santa Cruz beats Mares again to retain featherweight title
Mexican Leo Santa Cruz beat Abner Mares once more, retaining his WBA (Super) featherweight title.
Leo Santa Cruz defended his WBA (Super) featherweight title by beating Abner Mares in an enthralling rematch on Saturday.
Santa Cruz, 29, claimed a unanimous decision win at the Staples Center in Los Angeles to retain his title.
The Mexican (35-1-1) saw the fight scored 117-111, 116-112 and 115-113 in his favour in a rematch of their 2015 bout, which he won by majority decision.
Santa Cruz and Mares again delivered – as they did three years ago – and it was the former who had the better of the first half of the fight.
Mares enjoyed a decent finish, but Santa Cruz landed more punches in an all-action fight.
While he suggested another fight between the pair, Mares (31-3-1) has suffered two of his three career losses to Santa Cruz.