FightHype.com has been advised that WBC super bantamweight champion Leo Santa Cruz has been added to the televised portion of the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao undercard. From what we’re told, Santa Cruz will not be defending his title. Instead, he’ll be making his 126-pound debut.
The addition of Santa Cruz rounds out a 3-fight televised pay-per-view that will kick off with WBO featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko defending his title against mandatory challenger Gamalier Rodriguez. Next up will be Leo Santa Cruz in his featherweight debut, followed of course by the main event that we’ve all been waiting for, Mayweather vs. Pacquiao.
According to a source, Mayweather himself ensured that the always exciting Leo Santa Cruz, whose fought on 2 previous Mayweather undercards (Mayweather vs. Guerrero and Mayweather vs. Maidana), was fighting on this card to pay homage to Mexican fans during the Cinco de Mayo weekend. Ironically, promoter Bob Arum, who previously complained about Mayweather vs. Pacquiao taking place on May 2 because “it’s poaching on a Mexican date and it’s disrespectful to the Mexican people”, chose not to showcase any Mexican fighters in his alotted undercard bouts.
The undercard will also feature super middleweight Jesse Hart taking on Mike Jimenez and jr. middleweight Chris Pearson facing Said El Harrak. As we understand it, hard-hitting cruiserweight Andrew Tabiti and light heavyweight Egor Mekhonstev may also appear in separate bouts on the non-televised portion of the undercard.
