Leo Santa Cruz: Boxing’s Whirling Dervish

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The term “punches in bunches” was not coined specifically for WBA “super” featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (31-0-1, 17 KOs), but it definitely applies to the Mexican-born Rosemead, California, resident, whose work rate is fast becoming legendary.

For however long Santa Cruz’s title defense lasts against former IBF super bantamweight champ Kiko Martinez (35-6, 26 KOs) in the Showtime-televised main event at the Honda Center on Saturday in Anaheim, California, it is a virtual certainty he will average right around 100 punches per round -- a nonstop, whirling-dervish attack that has the effect of either forcing opponents to try to match his frenetic output or to expend most of their energy on defense.

In the breakout bout of his 9½-year professional career, Santa Cruz, 27, won the vacant WBA 126-pound belt in an action-packed, 12-round majority decision over three-division former world champ Abner Mares in August; and although Mares tried his best to match Santa Cruz shot-for-shot, he wound up being outworked (1,057 punches thrown to 980) and out-landed (373 on a 35 percent connect rate to 227 on a 23 percent connect rate).

Santa Cruz’s victory was not exactly shocking: He went off as a 2-to-1 favorite. However, the manner in which he accomplished it, against such a highly regarded fighter and in what many considered one of the best scraps of the year, added to his reputation as a fan-friendly attraction whose base of support continues to expand. The showdown with Mares drew a passionate crowd of 13,109 to the Staples Center in Los Angeles, and the turnout for the Martinez bout figures to be nearly as boisterous. Santa Cruz’s growing legion of supporters has come to expect him to deliver a lot of bang for the buck, and he never disappoints.

“The Mares fight was very important to me,” Santa Cruz said. “He had the biggest name of anybody I ever fought. A lot of people didn’t think I was on his level or that I could beat him, but I trained very hard, I was motivated and I was hungry. Beating him showed I deserve to be up there among the great fighters. One of my goals has been to be up there with the big names, the elite fighters. I’m getting closer all the time. I don’t know if I’m there yet, but hopefully I will be soon if I keep fighting and beating the best guys in and around my division.”

Santa Cruz-Martinez might be described as the nightcap of a trans-Atlantic TV doubleheader and maybe a preview of a marquee event in the near future. Earlier on the same day in Manchester, England, IBF super bantamweight champion Carl Frampton (21-0, 14 KOs) squares off against Ireland’s Scott Quigg (31-0-2, 22 KOs), the WBA “regular” featherweight titlist, in a bout which will be televised in the United States via Showtime Extreme. It has been widely speculated that the winner will move on to a high-profile date with Santa Cruz.

“We’ll go out there, do a job on Carl Frampton, win in spectacular fashion and maybe have potential fights down the line with Leo Santa Cruz and some of the other great fighters in the division,” said Quigg, his sentiment apparently shared by Frampton.

For his part, Santa Cruz is just as eager to test himself against the Frampton-Quigg winner.

“When I was 122 [pounds], both those guys wanted to fight me,” he said. “I wanted to fight them, too. The winner of that fight is somebody I would love to face next. It’s very possible that fight would be next.”

Martinez, of course, could have something to say about it. His intention is to gum up the works by pulling a major upset against Santa Cruz, a 23-to-1 favorite.

“I had been scheduled to fight for the European [featherweight] title,” Martinez said. “When this opportunity came up, I decided to give up the European title to come to America to fight Santa Cruz. Now, more boxing fans will get to see me. I will not take one step back. I will come forward the whole fight. I have a lot of respect for Leo Santa Cruz. He’s a great fighter who’s clearly one of the best featherweights in the world and a top 10 pound-for-pound fighter. Leo and I are true warriors, so this will be a brutal fight, but I have what it takes and I will be victorious.”

Martinez’s vow to continually come forward theoretically plays into the hands of Santa Cruz, who not only is a high-volume puncher but also enjoys height (5-foot-7½ to 5-foot-5) and reach (69 inches to 66 inches) advantages. In his U.S. debut, Martinez wrested the IBF super bantamweight title from Colombia’s Jhonatan Romero with a sixth-round stoppage on Aug. 17, 2013 at the Revel Resort Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He is 8-3 since then, but those defeats came against Frampton (twice) and Quigg.

“Some people don’t think I can still fight because I lost to those guys, but they are wrong,” Martinez said. “People doubting me has me even more motivated.” Bernard Fernandez, a five-term president of the Boxing Writers Association of America, received the Nat Fleischer Award from the BWAA in April 1999 for lifetime achievement and was inducted into the Pennsylvania Boxing Hall of Fame in 2005, as well as the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame in 2013. The New Orleans-born sports writer has worked in the industry since 1969 and pens a weekly column on the Sweet Science for Sherdog.com.