Leo Santa Cruz and Abner Mares are fighting Saturday night. If the two were facing each other in a rematch from their August 2015 meeting, it would be an outstanding matchup between two top featherweights. Santa Cruz, after all, is coming off an exciting two-fight series with Carl Frampton in which both won a fight each. Mares (30-2-1, 15 KOs), though he lost to Santa Cruz in 2015, has plenty of good victories over the likes of Vic Darchinyan, Joseph Agbeko and Daniel Ponce De Leon.
Instead, Santa Cruz (33-1-1, 18-0 KOs) will face Chris Avalos (27-5, 20 KOs), while Mares will match up with Andres Gutierrez (35-1-1, 25 KOs). To give you an idea of what that means, Santa Cruz is a -10000 betting favorite, while Avalos is +1600, meaning you?d earn $1,600 by betting $100 on Avalos to win.
The odds are closer between Mares and Gutierrez (Mares is -2000, while Gutierrez is +900), but overall, it?s an underwhelming card for a network TV broadcast. The tripleheader on Showtime featuring Jermell Charlo, Erislandy Lara, Jarrett Hurd and Erickson Lubin is more appealing, but still, there are reasons you should watch the Fox broadcast, beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET. Here are two reasons why you should watch each bout.
Obviously, more than any other reason, it?s because if Santa Cruz and Mares win, we?ll most likely get the rematch to this.
Santa Cruz vs. Avalos
1)Santa Cruz is the best in the division: He?s always fun to watch. Avalos is not an impressive opponent?he?s lost three of his last five bouts?but you should watch Santa Cruz, who is making a $750,000 purse, and his talent anyway. ?With Leo, there?s another guy where you know he?s never going to be in a bad fight,? promoter Richard Schaefer said on a recent teleconference. ?He is definitely, pound-for-pound, one of the most exciting fighters.?
2) Avalos is desperate: He?s already faced and lost to two of the better fighters in the division?Mares and Oscar Valdez. If he loses to Santa Cruz, he might not get another shot at a top-notch fighter and the purse that comes with it. He was asked during a recent interview if this bout was do-or-die for his career. Said Avalos: ?Exactly. Yes, well actually it is. Yes, and that?s how I feel about it. That?s exactly how I feel about it.?
Mares vs. Gutierrez
1)Gutierrez nearly won the first time he fought a A-fighter: Gutierrez gets another chance to beat a top-notch boxer, 16 months after losing a majority decision to Cristian Mijares. Gutierrez was supposed to fight Carl Frampton earlier this year, but Gutierrez was injured just before the fight. Now, he gets another chance. ?This is not a soft touch [for Mares],? Schaefer said. ?This is not a tune up and Abner knows that and they know as well that the Jaguar is going to be coming to take what is his, what is Abner?s, that world title. So, this is by no stretch of the imagination, anything even remotely close to a tune up. This is a real fight.?
2)This might be Mares? last run at division dominance: At the age of 31, Mares might not get too many more opportunities to take over the featherweight division, a deep weight class featuring the likes of Santa Cruz, Frampton, Lee Selby, Gary Russell Jr., Oscar Valdez and Joseph Diaz Jr. ?Obviously this is my Christmas list,? Mares, who will earn $700,000 for this fight, said. ?If I get Frampton over Leo next on the list, any order, Leo, Frampton, Gary Russell Jr., Oscar Valdez. If I could make it, jump to 130 and if you?re still there, Gervonta Davis. I?ll fight them. That?s four or five fights that could totally be my career right there.?
Cotto couldn’t land a big fight: If you?re disappointed with Miguel Cotto?s decision to fight Sadam Ali in what?s supposedly the final fight of Cotto?s career, you?re probably not alone. But then again, it sounds like Cotto and his team tried for bigger fights.
According to RingTV.com, offers were made to Danny Garcia, Lamont Peterson, James Kirkland, Mikey Garcia and Errol Spence. None made the deal, even though Mikey Garcia was reportedly offered $2 million for the fight. Mikey Garcia then would have been contracted with Golden Boy Promotions for his next three fights, according to the Los Angeles Times.
so fight only came by signing to gb. not bad but im doing better on my own.
? Team Mikey Garcia (@mikeygarcia) October 9, 2017
why not cotto only and no further commitment? @steveucnlive
? Team Mikey Garcia (@mikeygarcia) October 9, 2017
Lomachenko-Rigondeaux a hot ticket: If you don?t have a ticket to see Vasily Lomachenko fight Guillermo Rigondeaux on Dec. 9 at the Madison Square Garden Theater, you?re out of luck. Two months before the event, it?s sold out.
“This is the Big Apple’s second-hottest ticket on the secondary market next to Bette Midler’s Broadway smash, Hello Dolly!” Top Rank CEO Bob Arum said in a statement. “The Lomachenko vs Rigondeaux title fight is a signature event in the sport of boxing. It matches the two greatest fighters in Olympic boxing facing off against each other. Never before in boxing history have two boxers, each the winner of two Olympic gold medals, faced each other in a professional boxing match.”
The fight will be shown on ESPN.
