This Saturday, at the Stub Hub in Carson California, Golden Boy Promotions will put forth, what appears to be, a great boxing event. The televised card will consist of Leo “Teremoto” Santa Cruz challenging Victor “El Vikingo” Terrazas for his WBC super bantamweight title. The main event will be another world title bout where Abner Mares will defend for the first time his WBC featherweight title against the tough Jhonny Gonzalez. This televised double-header should be enough to make any boxing head out there salivate with excitement.
Take my word on this fight, Terrazas vs Santa Cruz, is going to be an all out WAR! Might even steal the show. Many boxing fans here in the states may not know much about Terrazas, since he has done all of his career in Mexico fighting only once in Texas. Terrazas, even though many saw him lose against Mijares, is a tough SOB. This guy is a prime example of what is a Mexican warrior. If this is the case, and considering what we all know about Santa Cruz, oh boy, what a treat awaits us! Even though Terrazas is tough with okay boxing skills, Santa Cruz will out work Terrazas. Santa Cruz has many factors in his favor. For starters, Santa Cruz is a lot younger than Terrazas. Not only is Santa Cruz younger, but also hungrier. Going by their last fights, Santa Cruz work rate will be too much for Terrazas, especially once Santa Cruz starts landing his signature left to the body. This fight, however, won’t be a walk in the park for Santa Cruz, Terrazas will come to this fight knowing that a victory or notable performance against Santa Cruz, might land him a good pay day in the future, so might be a motivational factor for Terrazas. At the end of this fight, I believe Santa Cruz will be the new WBC super bantamweight champion by the way of a 6th round knock out.
The main event of the night, will also be a nice treat. Abner Mares vs Jhonny Gonzalez has the ingredients in being another war or a tactical fight, depending on what Mares brings that night. If we look back at the Mares vs Ponce de Leon fight back on May Day, many of us expected Mares to be the come forward type fighter against Ponce, but he surprised many by fighting a smart tactical fight. That fight proved that Mares is not just a one dimensional fighter as many thought. For that matter, Mares vs. Gonzalez will be a clash of styles and adaptability. Gonzalez is trained by Nacho Beristein, therefore, we can expect Gonzalez with a counter attack game plan, assuming that Mares comes forward applying pressure. But it Mares come with a similar game plan as in the Ponce fight, Gonzalez might be forced to go on the attack. If this happens, I believe that Mares will use his boxing skills acquired from his amateur career, and might out class Gonzalez. Let’s not forget that both of these guys have power. Gonzalez might have the slighter edge here, but with Mares’ ring intelligence, a punch that Gonzalez doesn’t see might seal the deal. I see a late round stoppage in favor of Mares. Mares at this point in his career is on a different mind set. Not only does Mares has the skills to be where he is at, he believes in what he can do in the ring. We have to remember that in any competition, 20% is skills and 80% is mental. Mares, with all of this past performances, have proved to us that he is on “another level,” as our Rob would say. For that matter, I find it hard to see Mares lose against Gonzalez. As of now, the boxing gods have been with Mares, and they will continue to be with him for a long time.
Till Next Time,
Rudy “Ruthless” Gutierrez
The Heavy Bag 
August 23, 2013
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