Showtime Undercard Preview: Santa Cruz-Mijares, Molina-Charlo, Linares-Arakawa & more

By Peter Wells:

Leo Santa Cruz (left) & Cristian Mijares (right)

A Pay-Per-View event is never as worthy without a packed undercard, and to compliment the main event between Saul Alvarez and Alfredo Angulo are multiple enticing match-ups that will cater for all the boxing fans needs.

In the co-feature Leo Santa Cruz 26-0-1(15) defends his WBC Super Bantamweight title for the 2nd time against the experienced former world champion Cristian Mijares 49-7-2(24).

For Santa Cruz he will be fighting a man that he has almost certainly looked up to over the years. After a tricky start to his career which saw him at 11-3-1(3), he went on to rule the Super Flyweight division. Katsushige Kawashima (SD 12 & TKO 10), Jorge Arce (UD 12), Jose Navarro (SD 12), Alexander Munoz (SD 12) and Chatchai Sasakul (TKO 3) where just a handful of names that were beaten by a prime Mijares.

That was all before he ran into Vic Darchinyan, who dominated and stopped Mijares in 9 rounds which was followed by back-to-back loses against unbeaten Nehomar Cermeno (SD 12 & UD 12). Since then Mijares regained world honours at Super Flyweight before jumping up to Super Bantamweight where last year he was unsuccessful in his bid for the WBC title against Victor Terrazas (L SD 12). Two stoppage wins later and Mijares gets a second shot at that title.

Santa Cruz's high energy style has earned him quite the reputation in the boxing world and he'll be looking to further enhance that as he chases future super fights with Guillermo Rigondeaux and Abner Mares, as well as others.

Prior to his world championship bow, Cruz had impressed with a crunching win over Stephane Jamoye (KO 6). Cruz went on to dominate Vusi Malinga (UD 12) for the vacant IBF Bantamweight title before defending 3 times against Eric Morel (TKO 5), Victor Zaleta (TKO 9) and Alberto Guevara (UD 12). Then with a step up in weight Cruz destroyed Victor Terrazas (KO 3) for the WBC belt followed by a tougher than expected win against Cesar Seda (UD 12).

Both are exciting fighters and both have shown lapses in defence. Cruz is far the fresher man and he does have the edge in power. But it is Mijares who carries with him over a decade of experience, and the solid boxer can cause Cruz a lot of problems over the 12 rounds.



Carlos Molina (left) dethroning Ishe Smith (right)

In his last contest against Seda, Cruz never seemed to have his opponent in any trouble and with only 1 stoppage defeat to his name it seems unlikely that Cruz can end this inside the distance. But it is hard to go against Cruz wining, as he struggles at times with Mijares but his greater energy will help him towards a clear if not comfortable points win.

In an IBF Light Middleweight title fight, Carlos Molina 22-5(6) defends against Jermall Charlo 17-0(13) in a fight that has come into jeopardy this week. Molina was arrested earlier this week for obstruction and failing to register as a sex offender for a crime that happened in 2001, but as of the time of writing the fight was still set to go ahead.

Charlo, the twin brother of Jermell Charlo (also a Light Middleweight), has been showcasing his punching power in recent performances against mediocre opposition. This fight with Molina highlights a large step up in class for the 23 year old. But many will consider Charlo's chances due to Molina's unattractive and often negative style.



Jermall Charlo (left) with trainer Ronnie Shields (right)

Molina is a decent boxer, but it is his spoiling tactics that make him such an awkward customer, one that many world class fighters have failed to solve. After four early defeats in his career and a draw including against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr (D 6 & L MD 6) and Mike Alvarado (L MD 8), Molina has come on to beat Kermit Cintron (UD 10), Cory Spinks (UD 12) and Ishe Smith (SD 12) - for the IBF title - while considering himself unfortunate against both Erislandy Lara (D 10) and James Kirkland (L DQ 10).

Charlo will be the aggressor in this fight which should suit him best, as he can feed off the success he has had already in his career on the front foot. The harder hitting of the Charlo twins will need to find something special to halt Molina, but his activity and positivity can sway the judges in a tough to score fight.

In what could be the fight of the night, Jorge Linares 35-3(23) takes on Nihito Arakawa 24-3-1(16) over 10 rounds.

Linares has been in rebuilding mode since successive defeats to Antonio DeMarco (TKO 11) and Sergio Thompson (TKO 2). His only other reverse came by way of stoppage as well when he was stunned by Juan Carlos Salgado (TKO 1).

The 28 year old has been through a lot over his career thus far, but none of his punishing loses can compare to the one in which Arakawa suffered in his last outing. Omar Figueroa (L UD 12) dominated Arakawa in one of the fights of the year as Arakawa took severe punishment throughout. Arakawa fought on, earning tons of new fans but possibly at the expense of a lengthy career. Another beating tomorrow night will be hard to come back from for the 32 year old who was beaten by Daniel Estrada (TD 10) back in 2012.


Jorge Linares (left) & Nihito Arakawa (right)

Linares boasts a solid list of victims; Oscar Larios (TKO 10), Gamaliel Diaz (KO 8), Whyber Garcia (TKO 5) and Rocky Juarez (UD 10), but those aforementioned loses highlight a problem in Linares' game.

Arakawa, while being as tough as they come is unlikely to exploit those problems, with Linares exposing the floors in Arakawa instead. Linares can take a clear points win, in another extremely entertaining and action-packed affair.

Currently not featured on the PPV show - which could change if Molina-Charlo is cancelled - is a potentially explosive fight between banger Sergio Thompson 28-3(26) and aggressive boxer Ricardo Alvarez 23-2-3(14).

Alvarez was left disappointed when Omar Figueroa pulled out of their fight for the vacant WBC Lightweight title, which means that Alvarez and Thompson fight over 10 rounds with no title on the line.

These two Mexican fighters will go to war at some point in this fight, but Alvarez would be wise to steer clear of Thompson's bombs early on. If Alvarez can find a comfort zone, then the shorter Thompson will become frustrated. But the tentative pick is for Thompson to find his range and break Alvarez down for a stoppage around the 8th.



Sergio Thompson (left) destroys Jorge Linares (right)

Elsewhere on the untelevised undercard, Will Tomlinson 21-0-1(12) takes on Jerry Belmontes 18-3(5) while Francisco Vargas 18-0-1(13) faces Abner Cotto 17-1(8).

Australian Tomlinson can back up his convincing win over faded Malcolm Klassen (UD 12) with another points win.

Vargas who shut-out Belmontes (UD 10) last time out may not join Omar Figueroa in stopping Cotto but he can take a clear victory on the cards, further pushing forward a potential clash between Vargas and Tomlinson in the near future as they each edge towards their world title aspirations.