By Jim Dower: WBA Super World featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (34-1-1, 19 KOs) will be fighting Abner Mares (34-2-1, 15 KOs) on June 9 on Showtime along with WBC junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo (30-0, 15 KOs). The venue for the fight will be once again at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
The Santa Cruz vs. Mares rematch is a fight that boxing fans have been asking for since the two of them fought each other 2 ½ years ago on August 29, 2015. Santa Cruz won that fight by a 12 round majority decision at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. California. The boxing fans were hoping to see a war in that fight, but Santa Cruz surprised them by staying on the outside and jabbing Mares for 12 rounds. The fight was very one-sided. The judge that scored the fight a draw at 114-114, Max DeLuca, was outside of the mainstream, as the other 2 judges saw it as a clear cut win for Santa Cruz in giving him the victory by the scores 117-111 and 117-111. Mares looked like he only won 3 rounds at the most in the fight. Abner Mares was eating jabs the entire fight, and his eyes looked swollen and busted up from Santa Cruz’s hard shots.
Mares is a good fighter, but he’s facing a younger fighter with more talent and power in 29-year-old Santa Cruz. If you re-watch the first Santa Cruz-Mares fight, you’ll notice immediately that is not a close fight. Mares was out of his league against Santa Cruz, and beaten in a way that would suggest that he’ll always lose to him no matter how many times the two of them face each other. It’s still an interesting fight on paper, but in reality I don’t think it’s going to be competitive. Mares is too old, too weak and too small for Santa Cruz. Hopefully, Mares’ corner does the right thing and pulls him out at some point when it becomes apparent that he’s just taking punishment and has no chance of winning against Santa Cruz.
Mares, 31, has captured world titles at 118, 122 and 126 during his 13-year pro career. Mares was knocked out in the 1st round by Jhonny Gonzalez in August 2014. 2 years later, Mares was beaten by Santa Cruz by a 12 round decision in August 2015. After that defeat, Mares was viewed by a lot of fans as being past his prime and no longer capable of winning a world title. But to Mares’ credit, he came back from the loss to defeat WBA World featherweight champion Jesus Cuellar by a 2 round split decision in December 2016 to become a 3 division world champion.
Charlo has an excellent chance of stealing the thunder from the Santa Cruz vs. Mares 2 rematch. Charlo looked sensational in his last fight in stopping the highly hyped Erickson Lubin in the 1st round with a single right hand on October 14 on Showtime Boxing from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The 27-year-old Charlo’s opponent will likely be one of the fringe contenders in the World Boxing Council’s top 15 ranking. It could be one of these fighters:
• Jack Culcay
• Liam Smith
• Austin Trout
• Nathaniel Gallimore
• Yoshihiro Kamegai
• Zakaria Attou
• Jaime Munguia
• Sergio Garcia
• Julian ‘J-Rock’ Williams
• Vanes Martirosyan
• Maciej Sulecki
The ideal opponent for Charlo would be J-Rock Williams or Sulecki, but those aren’t the typical fighters that champions tend to face when making voluntary title defenses. Charlo has the talent to beat anyone in the division right now, so it’s possible that he might elect to take on a good fighter to show off his boxing skills. It’ll be tougher for Charlo to showcase his boxing skills if he faces a weak opponent for his next fight. Charlo wants to become a star in the junior middleweight division. The best way for him to achieve that goal is to face a good opponent on June 9.