Léodegario "El Terremoto Famoso" (The Famous Earthquake) Santa Cruz

¿Qué pasa?

A week from Sunday it'll have been two full calendar years since he last fought. He was said to be in talks for a fan-friendly all-Mexican clash with Rey Vargas in summer of '22, but after that fell through? Crickets. I think we can safely assume he's all but retired - or at least done building out a legacy as far as getting any more championship opportunities.

So what do we make of his career in (tentative) hindsight?

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Winning titles at bantam, super bantam, feather and super feather has to mean IBHOF at minimum, right?

I can't think of any other quadruple division champions who aren't either already in the Hall of Fame or sure to be first ballot when eligible - aside from, ironically, another Léo (Gámez - who many feel should be) - oh and of course Adrien Broner's dumb ass.

But of course there's a distinction between HOF and ATG, and I definitely don't think he bridges that gap.

 

• Thomas Hearns: ATG
• Ray Leonard: ATG
• Roberto Durán: ATG
  
• Pernell Whitaker: ATG
• Oscar de la Hoya: 1st ballot HOF
• Leo Gámez: not HOF, maybe ought to be
  
• Roy Jones Jr.: ATG
• Floyd Mayweather Jr.: ATG
• Manny Pacquiao: ATG
• Érik Morales: ATG clearly IMO but I've actually seen people dispute this; at minimum 1st ballot HOF
  
• Jorge Arce: not in the IBHOF yet but could be someday
• Juan Manuel Márquez: at minimum HOF, another lighter weights Mexican whose ATG status, like Morales' is apparently controversial to some.
  
• Nonito Donaire: sure to be in the IBHOF someday.
• Miguel Cotto: 1st ballot HOF
• Adrien Broner:
• Román González: sure to be in the IBHOF someday.
  
• Miguel Ángel García Cortéz: probably in the IBHOF someday.
  
• Donnie Nietes: could be in the IBHOF someday.
• Kazuto Ioka: sure to be in the IBHOF someday.
• Santos Saúl Álvarez Barragán: future ATG whether we like it or not.
  
• Naoya Inoue: future ATG.

LSC's in some pretty elite company, Brone Diggity notwithstanding.

 

He's probably my second favorite of the spate of "high-volume, heavy-handed, hard-chinned Mexicans" we've had in the last 20 years - just behind JSK. Always preferred him to Margarito, Munguia, or even Segura.

 

Exactly my take on him, yeah.

The frustrations with his quality of some of his challengers was definitely warranted but his shows were always good value.

 

Even with the four-weight distinction?