Leo Santa Cruz vs Chris Avalos

More than a decade after meeting as amateurs and later sharing rounds as sparring partners, Leo Santa Cruz and Chris Avalos came together for the WBA “Super” Featherweight championship at the StubHub Center in Carson, California, on 14 October 2017. Familiarity did not produce equality. Santa Cruz retained his title by technical knockout at 1 minute 34 seconds of the eighth round, although Avalos remained upright and protested vigorously when referee Thomas Taylor intervened.

Santa Cruz was making the first defence of the championship during his second reign. He had originally taken the WBA featherweight title from Abner Mares in August 2015, lost it to Carl Frampton by majority decision the following year, then regained it from the Northern Irishman in their Las Vegas return in January 2017. Avalos entered with a record of 27 wins and five defeats. He had previously challenged Frampton for the IBF super-bantamweight title and had subsequently been stopped by Oscar Valdez and Mark Magsayo. His recent fifth-round victory over Miguel Flores had returned him to contention, though he began this assignment as a substantial outsider. Santa Cruz weighed 125.4 pounds, with Avalos at the 126-pound limit.

Avalos advanced from the opening bell and attempted to make the contest physical. He found some success with uppercuts at close quarters, but Santa Cruz’s superior speed and accuracy were soon apparent. The champion finished the first round with a pair of right hands that disturbed Avalos and carried the stronger work into the second. Avalos continued to press and attacked the body, yet his punches did little to discourage Santa Cruz, who began backing him up with straight rights and short combinations.

The difference widened in the third. Santa Cruz maintained a high output, varied his attack between head and body and struck while Avalos was still preparing his own punches. A right to the body forced the challenger backwards, while another firm right hand closed the round. Santa Cruz’s father and trainer, José, wanted his son to use his reach and box at distance, but the champion initially preferred to exchange for the benefit of the crowd.

That decision produced the most severe action of the fight in the fourth. Santa Cruz trapped Avalos near a corner and unloaded with both hands. Hooks, uppercuts and straight rights reached the challenger’s head in rapid succession. Avalos did not go down and continued trying to answer, but he absorbed an exceptional number of clean blows. Santa Cruz was credited with landing 54 of 74 power punches during the round. Taylor watched closely but allowed the contest to continue.

Santa Cruz reduced his pace slightly in the fifth after the exertion of the previous round, though he remained in complete command. A heavy right caused Avalos’s legs to dip, and another landed late in the session. In the sixth, the champion followed his corner’s instructions more closely, controlling the distance behind the jab and stepping aside after his combinations. Avalos continued coming forward, but his pressure had become largely ineffective. He was throwing freely without landing enough clean punches to alter the course of the contest.

The seventh was another one-sided round. Santa Cruz worked the body with left hooks, returned to the head with the right and kept Avalos under steady punishment. The challenger remained willing and physically durable, but he had lost the speed of the exchanges and was being beaten to the punch from every range. Santa Cruz hurt him again late in the round and came out for the eighth intent upon ending matters.

A succession of power punches landed during the first half of the eighth, with Avalos taking several clean shots to the head in the centre of the ring. He was still standing and attempting to reply when Taylor moved between the fighters and stopped the contest. Avalos immediately objected, maintaining that he had not been badly hurt and that there had been no proper reason to halt the fight. The intervention could reasonably be considered early in isolation, but it followed seven rounds of increasing punishment and a particularly damaging fourth round. Santa Cruz had landed approximately 70 per cent of his power punches in the final session before the stoppage.

The overall figures confirmed the champion’s control. Santa Cruz landed 281 of 692 punches, a success rate of 41 per cent. Avalos was the busier man numerically, throwing 751, but connected with only 169, or 23 per cent. There were no knockdowns and no fouls of consequence. Santa Cruz improved his record to 34 wins, one defeat and one draw, while Avalos fell to 27-6.

The same programme was designed to prepare a return contest between Santa Cruz and Mares. Mares retained the secondary WBA featherweight title against Andrés Gutiérrez by technical decision after their bout was stopped because of an accidental cut. With both men victorious, attention immediately returned to their unfinished rivalry. For Santa Cruz, the Avalos defence had served its purpose. He removed nine months of inactivity, retained his championship and completed eight useful rounds without ever appearing in danger.

I never regarded Chris Avalos as a genuine threat to Leo Santa Cruz, though he was tough and willing. He pressed forward and traded, which suited Leo. Once Santa Cruz stopped fighting too close, used his jab and gave his combinations room, the difference in class became obvious. His right hand repeatedly split Avalos’s guard, while the body work weakened the challenger’s advances.

I thought the eighth-round stoppage was slightly early because Avalos was still standing and answering. However, he was badly outclassed and had absorbed considerable punishment. Santa Cruz retained his title, removed some ring rust and moved towards the Abner Mares rematch.