By Keith Idec

Abner Mares isn’t overly concerned with ring rust being an issue Saturday night.

The former bantamweight and featherweight champion has trained three times for his twice-postponed fight against Jesus Cuellar, which has kept Mares in the gym for most of this year. The 30-year-old Mares hasn’t fought since Leo Santa Cruz beat him by majority decision 15 months ago in Los Angeles.

He still feels sharp approaching their 12-round featherweight title fight at USC’s Galen Center and believes the additional time to train has helped him implement more of what new trainer Robert Garcia has taught him.

“You have to see it and look at it from the positive side,” Mares said during a recent conference call. “Obviously, I haven’t been in the spotlight. No cameras around me, no lights. But I’ve been active since March. I’ve been getting ready for a fight. Every single fight has been postponed the week of the fight, so I’ve practically done training camp for [three] fights. So that does not worry me.

“If [ring rust] happens, you will feel it up in the ring. And it’s just a matter of adjusting to it. I think it wears off within one or two rounds, and [it’s just about] getting the rhythm of the fight going. But I think we’re safe in what we did.”

Mares (29-2-1, 15 KOs), a 2004 Mexican Olympian from Downey, California, initially was supposed to challenge Argentina’s Cuellar (28-1, 21 KOs) for Cuellar’s WBA world featherweight title on March 12 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.

Their fight was supposed to open a CBS broadcast, but the show was postponed because Keith Thurman suffered a minor neck injury in a car accident late in February. That caused a 3½-month postponement of the Thurman-Shawn Porter welterweight title fight, to June 25 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

The Cuellar-Mares match remained the co-feature of that CBS telecast, but it was canceled June 16 by the New York State Athletic Commission because the NYSAC wouldn’t approve Mares for a license due to concerns about his 2008 surgery to repair the torn retina in his left eye.

The postponements also have caused a year-long layoff for the 29-year-old Cuellar. He hasn’t fought since he won a unanimous decision over Puerto Rico’s Jonathan Oquendo (26-5, 16 KOs) in a 12-rounder last December 5 at Barclays Center.

Showtime will televise Cuellar-Mares as the main event of a tripleheader that’ll begin at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT with a replay of the Anthony Joshua-Eric Molina fight for Joshua’s IBF heavyweight title. Showtime will air Joshua (17-0, 17 KOs) versus Molina (25-3, 19 KOs) live at 5:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. PT from Manchester, England. The later broadcast also will include a compelling junior middleweight title fight that’ll pit Houston’s Jermall Charlo (24-0, 18 KOs), the IBF title-holder, against mandatory challenger Julian Williams (22-0-1, 14 KOs, 1 NC), of Philadelphia.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.