WBA ‘Super World’ featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz has let the World Boxing Association know that he will face the ordered mandatory fight against secondary WBA 126-lb champion Leigh Wood next.
It remains to be seen whether the Santa Cruz vs. Wood fight will take place, as it will need to be negotiated, and it’s difficult to foresee PBC letting Leo fight in the UK.
If the Santa Cruz-Wood fight goes to a purse bid, Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing promotions have deep enough pockets to win and then try to stage the fight in the UK. It’s not likely to fly with PBC or Santa Cruz’s team.
According to information revealed by Boxing Scene, Leight Wood requested a 50 percent purse split for each of the contenders, something that is rare for super champions with secondary belt holders.
In this sense, Leo Santa Cruz would not give in to the request considering himself the super champion of the World Boxing Association. The Mexican receives the support of his promoter, TGB Promotions. He recovered this title in 2017 when he defeated Carl Frampton by decision. While Leight Wood earned regular champion status by knocking out China’s Xu Can in July last year.In these five years, Leight Wood gradually began to climb a few steps as an international star. Although he has a couple of losses in 26 matches, the sporting glory came with an upset victory over Xu Can. Since then, it must be remembered that despite falling in the first round against Michael Conlan, the Briton was able to knock him out, in the couple of fights that put him on the map of this industry.
Although everything indicates that Leo Santa Cruz is going to end up in a higher weight, the Mexican would have made a promise to the World Boxing Association to fight once again with the featherweight title in between. If the Aztec boxer had risen, the belt would be vacant and one of the candidates for it would be Leight Wood,