Mexican Bantamweight Leo Santa Cruz (21-0-1, 12) looks to not only prove that he's one of the fastest rising boxers in the world right now, but that he's also one of the top Bantamweights as he attempts to defend his IBF title against huge under-dog Victor Zaleta (20-2-1, 10).
Santa Cruz, seen by many as a future multi-weight champion, claimed the the IBF title just 5 months ago when he defeated Vusi Malinga and since then has defended his title once, becoming the first man to stop veteran Eric Morel. It was though by many that the Morel fight would be Santa Cruz's last bout as a Bantamweight however the ease with which he won has seen him remaining at 118lbs for one more fight as he waits to weigh up options at Super Bantamweight sometime next year.
As a fighter Santa Cruz is looking like a super star in the making, though it's not his skill per-se that is making him look like that, but his all action, relentless style. He's a monster at Bantamweight with hurtful shots, especially to the body and he throws in huge numbers slowly grinding opponents down with pressure and the cumulative effect of his shots. Despite his record not making him look much of a puncher he has amazingly stopped 10 of his last 11 opponents!
As well as his work rate and pressure, Santa Cruz is also a very tough fighter who takes a solid punch and smiles at his opponents afterwards as if to ask if that's all they have. In many regards he is similar to former Welterweight champion Antonio Magarito, who many have compared him to. Despite the similarities however, it's fair to say that Santa Cruz actually has the better skills and seems to be a bit more than just a relentless tornado of punches.
Whilst the bout is here for Santa Cruz to further enhance his reputation, it's fair to say that Zaleta will be looking for an upset and it's also fair to say that if Zaleta wins it would genuinely be one of the upsets of the year.
Despite being a decent fighter Zaleta has made his name at Super Flyweight and has even fought as low as Flyweight. In fact it's been at those lower weights that Zaleta has often acted as a bit of a banana skin with victories over fighters such as Eric Ortiz, Gilberto Keb Baas and Jose Antonio Aguirre (all of whom were world champions). Sadly however Zaleta hasn't been able to claim a world title, being widely beaten in his only previous world title bout again Omar Andres Narvaez.
Since the Narvaez bout, Zaleta has struggled winning 3 and drawing 1, though he could easily have lost 3 and won 1 of those and in effect be 1-4 in his last 5 bouts, having been dropped in 2 of them. Whilst he's never been stopped, he's never faced a fighter like Santa Cruz and I really, really can't see him coping with the relentless aggression of the champion here.
Prediction: Santa Cruz by TKO7
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