Boxing could use boost of Leo Santa Cruz, Mikey Garcia bringing belts back to Los Angeles

The knockout streak of Los Angeles resident Gennady Golovkin, the resurrection of Hawaiian Gardens’ Abner Mares and the rise of Carson-trained unbeatens Oscar Valdez and Gilberto Ramirez are some of boxing’s most compelling 2017 story lines.

On Jan. 28, the Southland is positioned to become the epicenter of the sport should local challengers Leo Santa Cruz and Mikey Garcia claim world-title belts on their Showtime-televised card at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

“I believe Los Angeles is the fight capital of the world and not only because of the Latinos here. You have the urban market and great widespread interest,” said veteran Los Angeles-based fight promoter Richard Schaefer.

“Los Angeles has always been extremely important to the health of boxing. If we have world champions from the city, it elevates the sport and the fabric of the fight community in Los Angeles.

“If you can own the L.A. market and become a big attraction, that sends waves across the country and across the world, and we’ve seen that in other athletes. You’re not just a star in L.A., you’re a global star.”

Riverside lightweight Garcia (35-0, 29 knockouts), a former two-division champion at 29, will fight to take hard-hitting Dejan Zlaticanin’s World Boxing Council belt in the co-main event. Then, former three-division champion Santa Cruz will attempt to avenge his lone defeat, in July, to Northern Ireland’s World Boxing Assn. featherweight champion Carl Frampton (23-0).

Boxing has flailed in its efforts to establish a powerful draw since the disappointment of the record-selling Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao fight of May 2015. But if Santa Cruz is successful later this month it could propel him into bouts of major interest given the depth of the featherweight division and how his personal story resonates.

Not only did he scrap through a deprived childhood as a first-generation American in L.A., his father and trainer, Jose Santa Cruz, is fighting bone cancer, enduring continued chemotherapy treatments through this camp and beyond.

“I’ve always dreamed of being in these big fights, and getting a victory will get me up there closer to those pay-per-views,” Santa Cruz said. “My goal is to show I am the best featherweight and one of the best pound-for-pound fighters.”

Santa Cruz absorbed criticism not so long ago that he was too coddled by his manager, Al Haymon, but now after jumping into a rematch after his lone loss, his time is at hand.

“If Leo can make it 1-1 and win the rematch after being distracted” by his father’s initial cancer diagnosis “and fighting out of his comfort zone [in New York], there’s a third fight against Frampton in Belfast or a big fight lurking against Abner Mares that could sell out Staples Center,” Schaefer said.

Garcia engaged in a prolonged legal battle with former promoter Bob Arum that sidelined him for more than two years, but returned with an impressive July victory and said he’ll seek lightweight title unifications or a major fight against super-featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko in the immediate future.

“Mikey is a guy who’s bilingual, smart, who gets it and keeps challenging himself, like another guy taking on everyone, Gennady Golovkin,” Schaefer said. “If he keeps winning, that’s what ultimately makes you marketable. Because people want to see you. And if you keep on fighting the best, people will come. That’s how you go from champion to superstar to legend to pay-per-view star. Mikey has that in him.”

Schaefer previously promoted Santa Cruz while at Golden Boy Promotions and will now handle this card while heading the new Ringstar Sports, hopeful for the Southland sweep

“These guys trained, waited and dreamed for these moments since they were young kids -- that their time would come to be the headliners in the biggest fights in the best matchups,” Schaefer said. “We built them up, gave them wings and now they’re flying.”