Leo Santa Cruz headlines Mayweather-Maidana undercard

Leo Santa Cruz, the unbeaten super-bantamweight world champion from Los Angeles, will defend his belt in the co-main event of the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Marcos Maidana rematch Sept. 13 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Leonard Ellerbe of Mayweather Promotions told The Times on Thursday that Santa Cruz (27-0-1, 15 knockouts) will defend his World Boxing Council belt for the third time against another Southland fighter, Manuel Roman (17-2-3, six KOs).

Roman, 26, of Paramount scrapped his scheduled California bantamweight title fight Aug. 30 at the Del Mar Fairgrounds against Javier Gallo in favor of accepting the world-title, pay-per-view date.

Roman, a native of Mexico, has fought routinely in Southern California since 2006.

Ellerbe said the Mayweather-Maidana undercard will also include Mexico’s WBC lightweight champion Miguel Vazquez (34-3, 13 KOs) defending his belt against Las Vegas’ Mickey Bey (20-1-1, 10 KOs).

The pay-per-view portion of the card will open with super-welterweight Alfredo Angulo (22-4, 18 KOs) of Mexico fighting a middleweight catch-weight bout of 162 pounds against James De La Rosa (22-2, 13 KOs).

Angulo has lost three of his past five bouts, against James Kirkland, Erislandy Lara and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.

Before the Showtime pay-per-view broadcast begins, the card will also feature a light-welterweight battle between veterans John Molina of Covina and Mexico’s Humberto Soto, a former lightweight and super-featherweight world champion.

Follow Lance Pugmire on Twitter @latimespugmire