SportsMap Weekend Boxing Rewind
Santa Cruz wins easy but proves nothing in victory over Rivera
Feb 18, 2019, 6:54 am
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Leo Santa Cruz won with ease Saturday night, taking care of Rafael Rivera en route to a wide unanimous decision victory at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles. It was easy, but almost too easy, for the 30 year old Santa Cruz (36-1-1, 19 KO,) who dominated the overmatched Rivera from the opening bell to close.
In round one Rivera (26-3-2, 17 KO) looked sharp early, trying to press the action to Santa Cruz. But Rivera couldn't continue at his frenetic pace, and quickly looked fatigued trying to keep up with the quicker, rangier Santa Cruz. All three judges scored the fight 119-109 for Santa Cruz. SportsMap.com also scored the fight 119-109 for Santa Cruz. With the victory Santa Cruz defended his WBA "Super" featherweight belt for third straight fight.
Rivera wasn't originally supposed to fight at all. He took the assignment on about three week's notice when Miguel Flores was forced to withdraw with an ankle injury. Despite the change in opponents, many boxing analysts felt that Rivera could potentially provide a tougher challenge for Santa Cruz that Flores. But Rivera looked smaller and less physically fit in the ring, After eating lots of clean straight punches throughout many rounds, Rivera's tactic seemed to be to try and steal rounds late by unleashing a flurry of punches in the waning moments. The tactic didn't work, as Santa Cruz was game for the late rallies and had already banked a win in the majority of the rounds anyway.
Santa Cruz, who hasn't been legitimately challenged since his back to back fights with Carl Frampton in 2016 and 2017, is in need of a major opponent to regain interest. Gary Russell holds the World Boxing Council's version of the featherweight title, and a unification of the two is long overdue. It would be an easy fight to make as well; both fighters are advised by Al Haymon.
FIGUEROA UNIMPRESSIVE IN DECISION VICTORY OVER MOLINA
Former super-prospect Omar Figueroa (28-0-1, 19 KO) earned a unanimous decision over veteran John Molina Jr. (30-8, 24 KO) in the co-feature bout of the evening. The judges scored the fight 99-91, 98-92 and 97-93 in favor of Figueroa. SportsMap.com scored the fight 96-94 for Figueroa.
Neither fighter seemed interested in any sort of defense throughout the bout. Both men looked content to stand on the inside and eat uppercuts and body shots while dishing out their own. Figueroa landed more punches, but Molina seemed to steal several rounds by landing a big, clean shot down the middle. Molina, who has lost five of his last seven fights, looked shopworn, showing little head movement or ability to fire off quick counterpunches. But Figueroa, who is seven years younger, didn't look much better. He attempted to force Molina to the ropes in order to unleash multi-punch combinations, but Molina was often able to punch his way out of trouble.
The fight was originally contracted at 140 pounds, but Figueroa missed weight badly. The day before Figueroa's team struck a deal with Molina to move the countracted weight to 146 pounds. It's the third straight junior welterweight bout for Figueroa in which he has failed to make weight.
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With the Astros now officially ten games under .500 for the season, manager Joe Espada is taking a lot of heat from the fanbase for the team's struggles.
While we don't agree with the sentiment, we even hear fans clamoring for the return of Dusty Baker and Martin Maldonado, thinking the Astros wouldn't be in this mess if they were still here.
Which is ridiculous. First of all, Maldonado has been awful for the White Sox, hitting .048 (even worse than Jose Abreu's .065). And for those of you that think his work with the pitching staff justifies his pathetic offense. Let me say this: Where was Maldy's game calling genius for Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, and Framber Valdez last year? All of them regressed significantly.
And as far as Baker is concerned, we have no idea how much a difference he would make, we can only speculate. Baker would also be dealing with a pitching staff ravaged with injuries. And let's not forget, Baker was the guy that refused to move Jose Abreu down in the batting order, even though he would finish the regular season with the ninth-worst OPS in baseball.
The reality of the situation is managers can only do so much in baseball. Which leads us to something else that needs to be considered. Is Espada being handcuffed by the front office? Espada and GM Dana Brown both said recently that Jon Singleton was going to get more at-bats while they give Abreu time off to try to figure things out. Yet, there Abreu was in the lineup again in the opening game of the Cubs series.
It makes us wonder how much power does Espada truly have? The Astros have some other options at first base. Yainer Diaz may only have eight games played at the position, but how much worse could he be than Abreu defensively? Abreu already has four errors, and Diaz is obviously a way better hitter. Victor Caratini isn't considered a plus offensive player, but his .276 batting average makes him look like Babe Ruth compared to Abreu. Let him catch more often and play Diaz at first. Starting Diaz at first more often could also lengthen his career long-term.
Maybe that's too wild of a move. Okay, fine. How about playing Mauricio Dubon at first base? I understand he doesn't have much experience at that position, but what's the downside of trying him there? If he can play shortstop, he can play first base. He's driving in runs at a higher rate (11 RBIs) than everyone on the team outside of Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez. And he's producing like that as part-time player right now.
The other criticism we see of Espada is his use of Jon Singleton to pinch hit late in games. Let's be real, though, who else does Espada have on the roster to go to? Batting Abreu late in games in which you're trailing should be considered malpractice. Espada can only use who he has to work with. This all really stems from the Astros poor farm system.
They don't have anyone else to turn to. The draft picks the club lost from the sign-stealing scandal are really hurting them right now. First and second rounders from 2020 and 2021 should be helping you in 2024 at the big league level.
Maybe they go to Astros prospect Joey Loperfido soon, but after a hot start he has only two hits in his last six games.
Finally, we have to talk about what seems like a committee making baseball decisions. Lost in a committee is accountability. Who gets the blame for making poor decisions?
As time continues to pass it looks like moving on from former GM James Click was a massive mistake. He's the guy that didn't sign Abreu, but did trade Myles Straw (recently DFA'd) for Yainer Diaz and Phil Maton. He also built an elite bullpen without breaking the bank, and helped the club win a World Series in 2022.
The reality of the situation is Dusty Baker and James Click are not walking back through that door. And all good runs come to an end at some point. Is this what we're witnessing?
Don't miss the video above as we hit on all the points discussed and much more!
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