Abner Mares on Al Haymon Jump: He is Boxing Now

By Radio Rahim

Former three division world champion Abner Mares (28-1-1, 15KOs) spent his entire career with Golden Boy Promotions. Last year, when his promotional agreement with Golden Boy was running out, Mares made a decision not to extend it and instead signed a deal with manager/adviser Al Haymon. Mares also broke ties with longtime manager Frank Espinoza.

On March 7th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Mares will faces Arturo Santos Reyes as part of the debut edition of the new Haymon boxing series, Premier Boxing Champions, which is going to be televised on NBC.

"It just is [the best move for me]. I think Golden Promotions there are no hard feelings with them. Oscar is a great person and helped me out a lot. Golden Boy Promotions, I did ten years with them....about seven or eight years, I'm sorry. The contract expired. There were no negotiations. I started talking to Al Haymon. I'm with Al now. He's a great guy, he's great for boxing. He is boxing now. You could say he is boxing now," Mares told BoxingScene.com.

"He is taking boxing to the next level. It's great to be part of his team, one of the few Hispanic fighters to be on his team, it just motivates me to work hard for my Latino friends and my Latino community and my Latino fans."