Lomachenko retains WBO title; Santa Cruz rolls in featherweight debut

They’re accustomed to being main event fighters. On Saturday, Vasyl Lomachenko and Leo Santa Cruz were relegated to undercard status. And that was fine by them.

But that’s what happens when boxers are offered a spot on a card that features a megafight. They aren’t going to say no to Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Manny Pacquiao.

So, Lomachenko, the World Boxing Organization featherweight champion, successfully defended his title with a ninth-round knockout of Gamalier Rodriguez. And Santa Cruz, the World Boxing Council super bantamweight champ, moved up to featherweight and won a 10-round unanimous decision over Jose Cayetano.

Lomachenko (4-1) needed a couple of rounds to get untracked. But once he started rolling, there was no stopping him.

He dominated Rodriguez (25-3-3) with his effective left jab and did great work going to the body. In the fourth, Lomachenko landed a hard left to Rodriguez’s chest that stunned him.

“A fighter never expects a punch like that,” Lomachenko said. “I don’t use it that often. But when I do, it’s a devastating blow.

“I like to first feel out my opponent to figure out what I can do with him.”

He scored knockdowns of Rodriguez in the seventh round and early in the ninth. After the second knockdown, Rodriguez wasn’t interested in getting up and continuing, so referee Robert Byrd counted him out at 50 seconds.

Rodriguez’s best weapon were low blows to Lomachenko’s groin. Rodriguez got dinged in the fifth round and the eighth for hitting below the belt.

Not that it mattered. Rodriguez was hopelessly outclassed, landing a total of four jabs in the eight-plus rounds compared with Lomachenko’s 75 landed jabs.

Santa Cruz’s night was a little more difficult than Lomachenko’s, but only because the fight went the distance. He went right after Cayetano, catching him with a sharp left jab and using effective combinations to counter Cayetano’s attempts to generate any offense.

Santa Cruz (30-0-1) appeared to hurt his right hand midway through the second round, but he kept using it to score solid shots to the body and the head. Cayetano (17-4) was game and tried to fight back, but he was in with a superior opponent who had an answer for his every move.

All three judges scored the fight 100-90.

“He was able to take a lot of punishment,” Santa Cruz said. “I hit him in the head. I hit him in the body, but he never went down. I did what I could to finish him, but he was a tough guy.”

Santa Cruz landed an average of 40 percent power punches per round, double the average for a featherweight. He also landed 134 jabs to 22 for Cayetano, who was named Santa Cruz’s opponent only nine days before the fight.

But the fact that Santa Cruz couldn’t knock out Cayetano might be cause for concern as he looks for a summer fight with featherweight star Abner Mares, a far tougher opponent.

“I want Mares or Lomachenko,” Santa Cruz said. “I want to fight one of the big names.”

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj.