Honda Center Results – Santa Cruz Stops Martinez

Santa Cruz Stops Martinez – Anaheim, California’s Honda Center hosted Showtime Boxing on Saturday night, February 27th. The main event featured a WBA “Super World” Featherweight title defense for Leo Santa Cruz as he faced the challenge of Spain’s Kiko Martinez.

We have live results coming in from the scene, right here at the Boxing Channel.

Michael Hunter’s impressive first round stoppage of Phil Williams has the Boxing Channel’s Ray Flores calling him a prospect to watch in the Cruiserweight division. Hunter moves to 11-0 overall. Hunter has personality and has the makings of a potential future champion, evoking comparisons to more advanced prospects like Errol Spence Jr and Erickson Lubin.

In Super Bantamweight action, Rey Vargas used a series of stiff shots tot he body to slow down Christian Esquivel, causing his corner to throw in the towel in the third round.

In Super Featherweight action, the technically sound Claudio Marrero won a unanimous decision over Johnathan Arellano. Marrero moves to 20-1 overall, with his lone loss coming to Argentina’s Jesus Marcello Andres Cuellar in a fight for the interim WBA World Featherweight belt.

The highly anticipated re-match between Julio Ceja and Hugo Ruiz for the WBC World Super Bantamweight title ended in disappointing fashion at :51 seconds of round 1 as Ceja took a fall and tore his knee up. Ruiz was winning the first encounter before he was stopped in the fifth round, and he was able to land on Ceja and send him to the canvas early in the fight. The knee injury was bad enough that Ceja exited the ringside by stretcher.

In the main event, Leo Santa Cruz and Kiko Martinez went to war from the outset. Martinez hit the canvas two times in the opening round as Santa Cruz was able to establish his superiority. When Santa Cruz looked up however, Martinez was back in his face and the round ended with both men throwing punches.

In round two, Santa Cruz hit the canvas, but the referee ruled it was not a knockdown. Nevertheless, Martinez was able to slow Santa Cruz down a bit, and he fought better on the inside. By round three, Martinez was getting his way more often, catching Santa Cruz on the ropes. The end of the third saw Santa Cruz get his nose bloodied.

In the fifth, Santa Cruz seemed to hurt Martinez, and he trapped him on the ropes.  Santa Cruz uncorked at high volume a flurry of over a dozen punches that caused the referee to step in and stop the fight. The pair threw over 1000 punches in less than five rounds according to the punch stats.

The complete results for the show appear below.

February 27th, 2016 – Honda Center
Anaheim, California

Complete Results as they come in:

Featherweight: Leo Santa Cruz over Kiko Martinez via TKO @2:09 in RD 5.
Super Bantamweight: Hugo Ruiz over Julio Ceja via TKO @:51 of RD 1.
Cruiserweight: Michael Hunter over Phil WIlliams via KO @2:44 of RD 1.
Super Feather: Claudio Marrero over Johnathan Arellano via UD (60-53,60-53,60-53)
Welterweight: Ceferino Rodriguez over Edgar Riovalle via Unanimous Decision.
Super Bantam: Rey Vargas over Christian Esquivel via corner stoppage @1:01 of RD 3.
Super Lightweight: Min Wook Kim over Alvaro Ortiz via Unanimous Decision.
Welterweight: Anthony Flores over Carlos Aguilera via KO @:26 of RD 5.
Bantamweight: Antonio Santa Cruz over Jorge Perez via Unanimous Decision.

Check out a results video for this fight at The Boxing Channel