Following his masterful performance against Abner Mares, Leo Santa Cruz (30-0-1, 17 KOs) who won the WBA Featherweight Super Championship Saturday night at the Staples Center in LA, is looking toward the future.

Santa Cruz endured plenty to win the title, but Jesus Marcello Andres Cuellar (27-1, 21 KOs), the hard-hitting southpaw from Jose C. Paz, Buenos Aires, Argentina, who possesses the WBA World Featherweight Title, remains the king of the hill.

Selecting Santa Cruz to fight for the title wasn’t automatic. It was a process.

“After studying the records and achievements of the top five featherweights in the world,” said Gilberto Jesus Mendoza, Vice President of the WBA, “we decided, at our discretion, that Leo Santa Cruz was the most deserving featherweight to fight for the crown.”

Having won the WBA Featherweight Super Championship by scores of 117-111 twice and 114-114, by fending off Mares with skill and intelligence, Santa Cruz must face Cuellar sometime in the next 18 months.

“I’ll do whatever and go with whatever my team wants,” Santa Cruz told boxingscene.com. “If a fight with Cuellar is out there, then a fight with Cuellar is out there. If there is a rematch with Mares, I’ll go with that.”

Santa Cruz is a rawhide tough fighter who will be looking for rawhide tough competition and Jesus Cuellar, the two-fisted gaucho from Argentina, more than fits the bill.

This article was penned by the author who is not related to the WBA and the statements, expressions or opinions referenced herein are that of the author alone and not the WBA.