Surprise, surprise. Leo Santa Cruz (right), in one of the worst mismatches on any recent pay-per-view undercard — which doesn’t exactly set a high standard — stopped Manuel Roman (left) in two rounds in the penultimate bout on the Floyd Mayweather vs. Marcos Maidana II PPV on Showtime Saturday.
There’s next to nothing to say about this fight because it was pointless. Roman won three of his last seven fights. He was a former sparring partner for Santa Cruz. By record, it accomplished nothing. By the acquaintance between the two, it accomplished nothing. On a bad undercard, this was the worst match-up of the group. Santa Cruz is fun and talented. He should be fighting some kind of contender or even a fringe contender on a card of this caliber, and instead he landed one big right hand and ended it against a guy who didn’t belong in the ring against him for a professional bout.
Afterward, he said he wasn’t scared of junior featherweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux. He might even mean it. It’s pretty easy for him to say, though. He’s an Al Haymon-managed fighter, and those guys are on as brutal a streak of mismatches as they ever have been, which is saying a lot for Haymon-managed fighters. Unless he starts demanding difficult opponents, he’s not likely to get one.
(Photo credit: Esther Lin, Showtime)
