Showtime Fight Preview

Leo Santa Cruz vs. Kiko Martinez

Showtime was set to air a three fights this Saturday but after a failed eye exam forced the cancellation of a heavyweight bout, fans will have to settle for two scraps.  Fortunately the two fights left should be a lot of fun.  The main event of Showtime's card is a 12-round featherweight fight between Leo Santa Cruz and Kiko Martinez with Santa Cruz's WBA title on the line.  While the fight is big for both fighters it is especially so for Santa Cruz who could be involved in a number of big fights with a win.

Santa Cruz looked great against Abner Mares

Santa Cruz is an orthodox fighter with an extremely high work rate.  The young fighter works behind a nice jab and a strong right hand that is accurate as a straight punch and powerful when he throws it overhand.  The most impressive thing about Santa Cruz is his stamina.  He throws a ton of punches every round and despite this high volume punching he never really seems to slow down.  Santa Cruz was able to do two things in his last fight that impressed, the first was that he showed he can stay in the pocket and trade punches when he needs to, the second was that he stepped up against Abner Mares and showed he belonged.

Until that fight with Mares, Santa Cruz took a lot of criticism for his level of opposition.  At one point Santa Cruz faced three worthy opponents in a row, Victor Terrazas, Cesar Seda, and Christian Mijares.  However, after those three fights he took on a string of journeyman and unproven fighters.  Just when it seemed like everyone was ready to jump off the Santa Cruz bandwagon because he was being too protected he takes a fight with Mares and wins a clear, although majority decision.  As of now Santa Cruz has a career record of 31-0-1 with 17 knockouts and a win over Martinez could set up some big things.  

Martinez's last big fight ended with a KO loss

Martinez is an aggressive orthodox fighter.  He likes to fight from the inside and he uses a jab to get in close but it isn't a very crisp punch.  When Martinez does get inside he likes to let go with a strong left hook and he does a nice job of banging that punch to the body.  Along with that left hook Martinez also has a good right hand but he is usually there to be hit because he always comes straight ahead.  Martinez also doesn't cut off the ring very well which means he often ends up following opponents around the ring.  Also, Martinez is vulnerable to the knockout and in six career losses has been knocked out twice, once by Scott Quigg and the other by Carl Frampton.

Martinez who is from Spain has spent most of his career fighting in his homeland.  Unfortunately the majority of those fights have come against sub par competition and Martinez has not fared very well when he steps up his level of competition and Santa Cruz is certainly a step up.  In his last big fight Martinez was knocked out by Scott Quigg and while he has gone 3-0 with two knockouts since that loss those wins came against opponents with a combined record of 66-28-5.  As a professional Martinez has gone 35-6 with 26 knockouts and scoring a knockout against Santa Cruz may be the only chance he has of actually winning the fight.

While Martinez is only two years older than Santa Cruz it seems like he has been around much longer.  Martinez is also shorter than Santa Cruz which won't help him come fight night.  Santa Cruz has shown he can bang on the inside but he is at his best when he can create some space to land his jab and straight right hand.  Because Martinez is shorter and usually plows straight ahead Santa Cruz could use that jab to pick him off all night.  If this fights ends up being any good it will be because Martinez was able to get inside and land to the body, but that is a big if.

PREDICTION: Kiko Martinez will come to win, not just collect a paycheck, but that will won't be enough to get him the victory.  Leo Santa Cruz is in a higher class than Martinez and he should have no problems picking him off with stiff jabs and accurate straight right hands on his way to a wide unanimous decision win.

Julio Ceja vs. Hugo Ruiz

The co-feature of Saturday's Showtime card will be an exciting rematch between Julio Ceja and Hugo Ruiz.  The two first squared off in August of 2015 and Ceja got off the canvas in the third round to comeback and knock Ruiz out two rounds later.  This time around the two pugilist will once again go 12 rounds in the junior featherweight division but this time Ceja's WBC title will be on the line.  

Ceja was able to get off the canvas to beat Ruiz

Ceja is an orthodox fighter with a ton of power.  While his jab is solid he can get lazy with his straight right hand and not throw it with the authority he needs to.  One punch he always throws with authority is his left hook and he looks to end fights with that punch whether he throws it upstairs or to the body.  While Ceja has plenty of power he isn't the slickest boxer so he is beatable if his opponents employs the correct game plan.   

The only loss on Ceja's professional resume came against Jamie McDonnell in a close fight back in 2013.  Since that loss Ceja has gone 6-0 with a very impressive five knockouts and his career record is a near perfect 30-1 with 27 knockouts, an almost unbelievable number for such a small fighter.  At the time of his stoppage against Ruiz, Ceja was down on all three official scorecards so he shouldn't just rely on the knockout to happen in their rematch.

Ruiz boxed well in his first fight against Ceja

Ruiz is also an orthodox fighter and he too has plenty of pop on his punches.  With that pop Ruiz also showed in the first fight that he can box a bit better than Ceja can.  Ruiz is a full 4-inches taller than Ruiz and he used that height advantage intelligently in their first fights, staying on the outside and picking Ceja off with jabs.  Another thing Ruiz does well is counter punch and he dropped Ceja with a counter left hook early in their first fight.  Along with that left hook Ruiz has a very quick straight right hand that lands with a thud.

This will be a big fight for Ruiz who hasn't found himself in many of those before outside of a clash with Japanese star Koki Kameda.  For his career Ruiz has gone 35-3 with an outstanding 31 knockouts but his downfall has always been his chin.  In three career losses Ruiz has been knocked out twice, which includes his first fight against Ceja.  At the time of the knockout Ruiz was actually ahead on all three scorecards so if he can avoid a firefight he could beat Ceja.

Many times in boxing when there is a rematch of a fight where one fighter has been knocked out the result is the same, only the second time around the knockout usually comes quicker.  If Ruiz wants to avoid being knocked out again he will need to improve on his original game plan.  In their first fight Ruiz did a nice job of staying on the outside and catching Ceja coming in.  In the rematch he needs to do more of the same, relying on his heights, jab, and straight right hand to win this fight along with some well placed counter left hooks.  For Ceja he won't have to change much.  He knows he can take Ruiz's power and get up and he also knows that Ruiz doesn't handle his power well so look for him to pick his spots to really let go with his left hook and go for the home run punch.

PREDICTION: Hugo Ruiz is a better boxer than Julio Ceja and if he uses his advantages and plays it safe he could win this fight.  However it was only about six months ago that Ceja stopped Ruiz so he should be extremely confident that a similar outcome is evident.  Ruiz may find some early success but eventually Ceja will catch him again and once again stop him, this time in the sixth round.