Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Columns

Santa Cruz-Mares Proves To Be Just What The Doctor Ordered

By Sean Crose

Boxing fans who are tired of hearing that the sweet science is dead and that the future lies with names like Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey can take heart in the spectacle that took place Saturday night in California between featherweights Leo Santa Cruz and Abner Mares. For this was a grueling, hard hitting and exceedingly entertaining affair which more than lived up to its promise.

santa

Indeed, it was nice to see a boxing match not involving Floyd or Manny topping the US Twitter trends late Saturday night into early Sunday morning. Such things are a rarity, and that’s because there are so few fights like Santa Cruz-Mares to be found anymore, especially not on basic cable.

While there’s little doubt that pound for pound king Floyd Mayweather is the most talented, famous and wealthy person in all of combat sports he’s arguably hurt boxing as much as he’s helped it. Why? Because his dominance is personality based rather than talent based. People see Floyd fight to see Floyd, not to see his exquisite ring skills.

The truth is, I can’t think of another dominant fighter – not even Ali – whose ring dominance was so superseded by his persona. Mayweather is clearly the dominant fighter of the hip hop era, a figure whose success is based primarily on swagger rather than on thrilling fights. The hip hop era has already seen its zenith, however, both in American popular culture and in the world of boxing.

After the Pacquiao fight people want action, the kind of action which was delivered in grand fashion on Saturday night. I’ve personally defended the supreme craftsmanship of “Scientific boxers” like Guillermo Rigondeaux and Mayweather for years now. What’s more, I’ll continue to do so. But the fact is that their style of fighting is just that – a particular style. Fans in general want more exciting fare.

Purely defensive fighting is a bit like postmodern literature – it can be great stuff, but it’s just not built to be the most popular stuff around. Besides, fighters like Joe Frazier, Mike Tyson – and perhaps even recent arrival Gennady Golovkin – have proven that a high end defensive style can be overcome, sometimes in explosive fashion. If boxing wants a return from the margins of American society, explosive is what’s going to be needed.

Ironically enough, neither Santa Cruz nor Mares are close to being the best in the featherweight division. Vasyl Lomanchenko is an extremely gifted fighter, maybe even a once in a lifetime talent. Likewise, Nicholas Walters would most likely make minced meat out of both Leo and Abner.

Still, Santa Cruz and Mares proved to be just what the doctor ordered this weekend – brave, exciting fighters who were willing to put it all on the line for ring glory. Frankly, it was refreshing to see. Even boxing purists like firework shows. Now, can Santa Cruz avoid fighting tomato cans for a while? He’s fun when he’s actually being challenged.

Photo: Suzanne Teresa, Premier Boxing Champions

5 Comments

5 Comments

  1. lista escape room

    07/05/2024 at 2:04 pm

    hey there and thank you for your info – I have certainly
    picked up something new from right here. I did however expertise a few technical points using this website, since I experienced to reload the
    site a lot of times previous to I could get it to load
    properly. I had been wondering if your hosting is OK? Not that I’m complaining,
    but sluggish loading instances times will very frequently affect your placement in google
    and could damage your high quality score if ads
    and marketing with Adwords. Anyway I am adding this RSS to my email
    and could look out for a lot more of your respective
    fascinating content. Ensure that you update this again very soon..
    Escape room lista

  2. Muoi.B

    07/06/2024 at 4:11 pm

    I was reading some of your posts on this internet site and I believe this website is
    very instructive! Continue putting up..

  3. sell my house fast

    07/21/2024 at 4:57 am

    Your style is very unique in comparison to other folks I’ve read stuff from. Thank you for posting when you’ve got the opportunity, Guess I’ll just bookmark this blog.

  4. Mike_O

    08/16/2024 at 12:04 pm

    I like this web blog very much, Its a real nice situation to read and receive information. Travel guide

  5. Профессиональный сервисный центр по ремонту бытовой техники с выездом на дом.
    Мы предлагаем: сервисные центры по ремонту техники в мск
    Наши мастера оперативно устранят неисправности вашего устройства в сервисе или с выездом на дом!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You May Also Like

Featured 2

By: Sean Crose Boxing fans will have a nice present for themselves this Christmas season if ESPN is to be believed. For the outlet’s...

Featured 2

By: Sean Crose It’s understandable why some, if not most, fight fans would consider super middleweight/light heavyweight Canelo Alvarez to be a bridge too...

Featured 2

By: Sean Crose WBA featherweight champion Nick Ball retained his title Saturday night by repeatedly dropping, then stopping, a very game Ronny Rios. Although...