Santa Cruz wins battle of Frampton targets defeating Mares in slug fest

Leo Santa Cruz won the clash of the potential Carl Frampton foes winning a majority decision over Abner Mares in the Staples Center on Saturday night.

Judges Steve Morrow and Jesse Reyes scored the fight 117-111 for Santa Cruz while Max De Luca scored it 114-114.

Frampton had expressed a desire to fight the winner and has being pursuing Santa Cruz for two years now.

However, an instant clash with The Mexican certainly doesn’t look on the cards now as their is already a clamour for a repeat of the Fight of The Year candidate.

According to CompuBox punch statistics Cruz and Mares shared 2,037 punches and fight fans are keen to see a repeat.

The win see’s Santa Cruz claim a third title at a third weight and he has a month to decide wheter he wants to defend his super bantamweight title or remain at featherweight.

Like Frampton Santa Cruz and Mares work with Al Haymon so a fight with one if not both is inevitable, but it will most likely happen after the pair rematch.