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Final words from Leo Santa Cruz, Kiko Martinez, Julio Ceja, Hugo Ruiz

Fighters Network
26
Feb

ANAHEIM, California – The final press conference for this Saturday night’s Showtime Championship Boxing was held in the hallways of the Honda Center, where the fight card takes place, on Thursday. Before Leo Santa Cruz, Kiko Martinez, Julio Ceja and Hugo Ruiz took the podium, all four men taking part in the Showtime doubleheader spoke with RingTV.com.

Santa Cruz (31-0-1, 17 knockouts) looks to defend his WBA featherweight title for the first time against Martinez, a former junior featherweight beltholder, in the main event.

“His power,” Santa Cruz said when asked what he needs to be wary of. “I think he’s gonna come forward throwing those big hooks. We gotta be smart and not get caught with those big shots.”

Santa Cruz, 27, is a considerable favorite against an opponent only two years his elder. The thought is that Martinez is weathered at this point in his career. “I’m not really familiar with odds. I don’t pay attention to that,” Santa Cruz said when presented with the staggering 30-1 odds in his favor for this fight. “I just concentrate on the fight. I come ready for whoever. I never underestimate a fighter. I have respect for every fighter and very fighter is dangerous for me.”



Given the odds, Santa Cruz was asked if anything short of a knockout would be a disappointment Saturday night, the Mexican-American pressure fighter stated, “Yeah, we want to go out there and try and knock him out, but more important, is we want to get the victory. We’re gonna be smart, and if we see that we can knock him out we’re gonna go for it.”

Santa Cruz laid out the possibilities should he be victorious against Martinez.

“I want to unify it against any champion,” Santa Cruz said. “Maybe also get a fight the winner from that night between Scott Quigg and Carl Frampton.”

That junior featherweight unification match between Frampton (IBF) and Quigg (WBA), takes place in Manchester, England Saturday night, and perhaps it’s more than a just coincidence that it will be televised live on the network’s sister channel SHO Extreme (5:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. PT). A replay of the fight will also air immediately after the Santa Cruz-Martinez fight on Showtime.

Contributing to the notion that Martinez is a weathered challenger, the Spaniard has already been stopped by both Frampton and Quigg. Fighting out of Alicante, Spain, Martinez is well aware of the underdog role he will be playing.

“Those that have bet on me, I’m gonna make them a lot of money,” Martinez said when given the odds that weren’t in his favor. “I think I’ve fought better opposition than him.”

Martinez (35-6, 26 KOs) will be making his second appearance in the United States after building most of his career in Europe. That other fight, which took place in Atlantic City, was perhaps the biggest win of his career. In August of 2013, Martinez stopped Jhonatan Romero in the sixth round to hand the Colombian his only defeat, and also win the IBF junior featherweight title. He defended it twice before losing it in his rematch loss to Frampton in 2014.

“I think Leo Santa Cruz is a great fighter. I think he deserves all the acclaim that has been bestowed upon him, but fighting me I’m gonna complicate some things,” Martinez opined. He went on to end the discussion stating, “I’m gonna go out and win the fight, and I’m gonna show the world that they have things all wrong.”

There is one caveat Martinez will have to deal with Saturday night, and that is the absence of his trainer, Gaby Sarmiento, who had VISA issues and couldn’t enter the country. Yet, Martinez found a replacement, and that man will be famed trainer Robert Garcia.

The co-feature of the Showtime telecast is a rematch between two Mexican junior featherweights that can very well steal the show if it’s anything like their first encounter. Julio Ceja will attempt to defend his 122-pound WBC title for the second time against Hugo Ruiz.

“He’ll be more tentative because in the last fight, the punch I landed on him will be on his mind mentally,” Ceja said about what he expects from Ruiz in the rematch. Ceja (30-1, 27 KOs) landed a counter left hook that dropped Ruiz in the fifth round just before eventually forcing a stoppage in the same round. It was a glorious win considering Ceja had to overcome adversity earlier in the fight after suffering the first knockdown of his career.

“It was a tough moment because once I went down I knew I was losing the fight,” Ceja said about the knock down he suffered in the third round. Coincidentally, it was also left hook from Ruiz that caused the damage, and Ceja continued to explain what went through his head in that moment. “I quickly had to readjust and do something to win the fight. As boxers, we know at some point in our career we can get dropped, but we just have to react and adjust to it.”

The fight quickly morphed into an action brawl once that happened, and standing toe-to-toe, both men traded power shots up until the stoppage.

“I think he’s ready for this fight too because he wanted the rematch,” Ceja said about his foe. “He moves forward, and it will be a great fight.”

Ceja, 23, expressed how much fighting in America means to him after fighting in Mexico for almost the entirety of his young career. “The people here are great. They know their boxing. It gives the Mexican fighters coming over here a great ambition to want to perform for them.”

“I’m looking for redemption,” Ruiz said about the second chance he will have against Ceja. “I did a lot of good work to make sure I don’t make the same errors.”

Ruiz (35-3, 31 KOs) let a looping right hand give Ceja a wide open window to connect on the counter left hook that inevitably led to his demise. Fighting out Sinaloa, Mexico, Ruiz knows he has the capabilities to hurt Ceja like he did in the first fight, and that this was just a learning experience.

“I’m always looking to improve,” Ruiz said when asked if he prepared any differently this time around. “I did that in this camp, and I’m always looking to come stronger and faster.”

Their first fight was one to remember, and once a body hit the floor, it seemed as though these two were made for each other. That match last August was on the televised undercard of Leo Santa Cruz’s victory over Abner Mares in Los Angeles, and Ruiz thinks the pattern may be good for the fans, saying, “It will steal the show. Ceja is well-prepared and we’re looking to put on a great fight.”

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