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Summary Mexico's Leo Santa Cruz won a 12-round unanimous decision over South African veteran Vusi Malinga.
Mexicos Leo Santa Cruz won a 12-round unanimous decision over South African veteran Vusi Malinga to capture the vacant International Boxing Federation bantamweight world title.Santa Cruz, 23, remained unbeaten, improving to 20-0 with one drawn and 11 knockouts as he punished southpaw Malinga with an array of punches, notably his left hook to the body.Two of the ringside judges awarded the bout to Santa Cruz 120-108, while the third saw it 119-109.Santa Cruz set the tone in the opening round, getting right to work at a fast pace.Malinga, 32 stayed in front of Santa Cruz, but he couldnt hurt the younger fighter with his punches.Gradually Malinga slowed and in the seventh he was hurt by yet another Santa Cruz left hook to the body, which the California-based Mexican followed up with a combination to the head.The eighth round offered more of the same, as Malinga refused to go away but couldnt find a way to turn the tide.Malinga came into the bout after a 19-month layoff since a unanimous 12-round decision over Filipino Michael Domingo that assured him a title shot.The title was vacated by Abner Mares, who stepped up in weight to claim the World Boxing Council super bantamweight title.Malinga fell to 20-4 with one draw after the bout, which played out in evening sunshine in an outdoor ring at the Home Depot Center in suburban Los Angeles.Malinga is now 0-2 in world title bouts. In 2009, he was stopped in the first round by Japans Hozumi Hasegawa in Kobe, Japan, in a title contest.Santa Cruz had fought five times since Malinga last stepped into the ring. None of those fights went the distance, and Saturday marked the first time he had gone 12 rounds.On the same card, US southpaw Austin Trout won an unimpressive 12-round unanimous decision over Dominican Delvin Rodriguez, by scores of 117-111, 118-110 and 120-108.Trout improved to 25-0 with 14 wins inside the distance and retained his World Boxing Association 154-pound title -- although the WBA recognises unbeaten Floyd Mayweather as its Super World Champion in the division.The bout didnt live up to expectations, with both fighters on the defensive in the first half. Trout got more aggressive later, but appeared to tire in the last two rounds.Middleweight Peter Quillin won a 10-round unanimous decision over former undisputed world champion Winky Wright. Quillin dropped Wright in the fifth round with a right to the head and got the nod from all three judges by scores of 98-91, 98-91, and 97-92.Quillin improved to 27-0 with 20 knockouts, while Wright, in his first fight in more than three years, fell to 51-6-1 with 20 knockouts.In another fight pitting youth against experience, 43-year-old Antonio Tarver and Nigerian Lateef Kayode, 29, battled to a 12-round draw.Kayode controlled the first half of the fight, but Tarver turned things around in the closing rounds.One judge scored it 115-113 for Tarver, one had it 115-113 for Kayode and the third saw it 114-114.The outcome left Kayodes record at 18-0-1, with 14 knockouts, while Tarver moved to 29-6-1 with 20 knockouts.
