Léo Santa Cruz

Amateur career

As an amateur, Santa Cruz compiled a record of 148 wins and 7 losses.

Early career

On October 21, 2010 Santa Cruz beat the veteran James Owens at the Martin's Valley Mansion in Cockeysville, Maryland.

In March 2011, Santa Cruz knocked out the veteran Stephane Jamoye to win the vacant WBC Youth World Bantamweight Championship.

On June 2, 2012 Santa Cruz beat Africa's Vusi Malinga to win the IBF World Bantamweight Championship. This bout was televised on a Showtime boxing card. After winning the IBF World Bantamweight belt, Santa Cruz defended his title against Morel, Zaleta and Guevara to finish 2012 with 5 wins including 3 title defenses. His last bout versus Guevara returned boxing to CBS after a 15-year absence.

On February 12, 2013, Santa Cruz vacated his IBF bantamweight belt to move up to junior featherweight.

Santa Cruz vs. Terrazas

Santa Cruz beat reigning titleholder Victor Terrazas in a third-round technical knockout to win the WBC World Super Bantamweight Championship at the StubHub Center in Carson, California on August 24, 2013.

Santa Cruz vs. Seda

Santa Cruz made a voluntary defence in December 2013 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas against Cesar Seda (25-1, 17 KOs). Santa Cruz knocked Seda down once in the fifth-round as he went on to win a unanimous decision when the three judges scored it 117-110, 116-111, 115-112 in his favor. The fight took place on the undercard of Broner-Maidana world title bout.

Santa Cruz vs. Mijares

Santa Cruz next fought veteran Mexican contender Cristian Mijares (49-7-2, 24 KOs) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada on March 8, 2014. The fight went the distance as Santa Cruz won on all three judges scorecards (120-108, 120-108, 119-109). Santa Cruz showed respect in the post fight interview to Mijares, who he looked up to before he won his first world title, "Mijares is a great boxer. I came to do what I had to do to win. Mijares had great experience. He's a lefty. I had to be ready. We practiced everything to put on a great fight." The fight took place on the Canelo-Angulo undercard.

Santa Cruz vs. Roman

On September 13, Santa Cruz fought at the MGM Grand again, this time on the Mayweather-Maidana II undercard. He stopped Mexican Manuel Roman (17-2-3, 6 KOs) in round two to retain his world title.

Santa Cruz vs. Ruiz

On January 17, 2015 Santa Cruz defended his WBC World Super Bantamweight title Jesus Ruiz (33-5-5, 22 KOs) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. The fight was announced a month earlier. Santa Cruz was criticized for fighting another low-level regarded opponent prior to the fight. Santa Cruz landed 277 punches to 120 by Ruiz, landing powerful head shots to force the stoppage 29 seconds into the 8th round. At the time of stoppage, Santa Cruz was ahead on all three judges scorecards (69-63, 69-64, 69-64). Santa Cruz earned a purse of $750,000 compared to Ruiz's $50,000. He then defended himself in the post-fight interview, "It was a war, but we came prepared. He gave me a tough fight. We went after him and stopped him. I know he was prepared."

Santa Cruz vs. Cayetano

Santa Cruz moved up to featherweight and fought his first fight on May 2, 2015. His opponent was announced as Mexican Jose Cayetano (17-3, 8 KOs) in a scheduled 10 round bout on the Mayweather-Pacquiao super fight undercard at the MGM Grand Arena. Santa Cruz won every round on all three judges scorecards (100-90, 3 times). Still undefeated, Santa Cruz boasted a record of 30 wins, no losses and 1 draw, with 17 inside the distance.

Santa Cruz vs. Mares

Santa Cruz won by majority decision against Abner Mares (29-1-1, 15 KOs) in a potential fight of the year candidate to win the vacant WBA (Super) Featherweight and vacant WBC Diamond Featherweight titles on August 29, 2015. 13,109 fans were in attendance at the Staples Center. Judge Max Deluca had it a draw at 114-114 whilst judges Jesse Reyes and Steve Morrow scored it 117-111 for Santa Cruz. “I was surprised Abner came out so strong. He came right at me but we figured him out and we got the win. I stayed outside with the jab. We were able to take control.”, said Santa Cruz in the post fight interview.

Santa Cruz vs. Martinez

On February 28, 2016 Santa Cruz made the first defense of his featherweight belt by defeating Kiko Martinez (35-6, 26 KOs) via fifth-round TKO at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Martinez was knocked down twice in Round 1, but beat the referee's count and continued to back Santa Cruz up in an entertaining slugfest. Both fighter combined threw over 1,000 punches in less than five full rounds. Santa Cruz hurt Martinez in round 5 when he cornered him and hurt him with right hands. Santa Cruz continued with a series of combinations until referee Raul Caiz Sr. jumped in at 2:09 as Martinez stopped throwing back.

Santa Cruz vs. Frampton

In a potential fight of the year candidate, Santa Cruz lost his WBA (super) Featherweight title to Carl Frampton on July 30, 2016 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn via a 12-round majority decision win before an crowd of 9,062. One judge scored it a 114-114 draw but the others made Frampton the winner, 116-112 and 117-111. Frampton had a higher accuracy rate, despite both fighters landing equal amount of punches. According to CompuBox stats, Frampton landed 242 of 668 punches (36 percent), whilst Santa Cruz connected on 255 of 1,002 blows (25 percent). In the post fight, Frampton said he wanted to defend the title in his home city and did not want to rule out a rematch. The fight averaged 480,000 and peaked at 549,000 viewers.

Santa Cruz vs. Frampton II

A rematch was confirmed between Santa Cruz and Frampton in October to take place. Originally discussed to take place at Frampton's hometown of Belfast, the venue was confirmed to be at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on January 28, 2017. 10,085 were in attendance as Santa Cruz regained his title with a majority decision (114-114, 115-113, 115-113). Santa Cruz and Frampton immediately discussed interest in a third fight, possibly in Frampton's hometown of Belfast. Frampton earned a purse of $1 million compared to $900,000 that Santa Cruz received. Frampton only landed 133 of his 592 punches thrown (22%) whereas Santa Cruz landed 230 of his 884 thrown (26%). Nielsen Media Research reported the fight averaged 587,000 and peaked at 643,000 viewers.