round unanimous decision over South African veteran Vusi Malinga Saturday 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. Malinga is now 0-2 in world title bouts. In 2009, he was stopped in the first round by Japan's 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. 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. In another fight pitting youth against experience, 43-year-old Antonio Tarver and Nigerian Lateef Kayode, 29, battled to a 12-round draw. One judge scored it 115-113 for Tarver, one had it 115-113 for Kayode and the third saw it 114-114. In Las Vegas, Kazakhstan's Beibut Shumenov retained his World Boxing Association light heavyweight world title Saturday with a 12-round unanimous decision over Mexico's Enrique Ornelas. All three ringside judges scored the bout 120-108 as Shumenov made the fourth defense of the title he won in 2010 with a split-decision victory over Spanish southpaw Gabriel Campillo.
