Leo Santa Cruz-Miguel Flores in the works for vacant WBA super featherweight title

Leo Santa Cruz reportedly has an opponent for his 130-pound debut: Miguel Flores, whom he was booked to face in February before Flores injured his ankle. The bout will presumably be for the vacant WBA “super” super featherweight title formerly held by Gervonta Davis before “Tank’s” move to lightweight, though Jamel Herring chimed in to imply that “regular” champion Andrew Cancio may sue over being supplanted.

Whatever the case, Santa Cruz (36-1-1, 19 KO) will be vacating his WBA featherweight belt.

This fight was pure garbage when it was first booked and it’s pure garbage now. Flores (24-2, 12 KO) is two fights removed from consecutive stoppage losses to Dat Nguyen and Chris Avalos, defeating journeymen Raul Chirino (who was in the middle of a four-fight losing streak) and Luis May (in the middle of a six-fight losing streak). For God knows what reason, this was enough for the WBA to rank him #2 at 130 pounds, just above Jayson Velez.

So now Santa Cruz gets to fight BoxRec’s 130th-ranked fighter for a title that shouldn’t exist and call himself a four-division champion after he inevitably wins in one-sided fashion. He and his team should be ashamed of themselves, as should anybody who treats this as a legitimate title fight. So should the WBA, obviously, but those cretins don’t know the meaning of the word “shame.”

It’s incredible how Santa Cruz and Gary Russell Jr. have managed to orchestrate an even dumber and more pathetic version of the Pacquiao-Mayweather saga.