By Miguel Rivera, photo by Ryan Greene/PBC
Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach is confident that his new pupil Jesus Cuellar (28-1, 21KOs) of Argentina has the strength and physical power to knock Abner Mares (29-2-1, 15KOs) and retain the WBA "regular" featherweight world title on Saturday night in Los Angeles, California.
In a twist of situations, Mares is trained by Robert Garcia - who recently was the head of Cuellar.
The fight will be televised by by Showtime as the main event of a TV doubleheader event.
The fight is a big step up for Cuellar, when compared to his past opponents. Mares is a former three division world champion who is trying to revive his career after losing a twelve round decision in his last ring appearance to Leo Santa Cruz last year.
They were scheduled to face each other earlier this year in June, but the New York State Athletic Commission would not approve the fight after Mares failed an eye exam.
Cuellar holds wins over former world champion Rico Ramos, Vic Darchinyan and Juan Manuel Lopez. He was in action last December when he won a twelve round decision over Jonathan Oquendo.
Roach sees Cuellar's size and power as being the big difference in the fight. Mares holds a huge edge in experience, but he hasn't been very active as of late.
"This Saturday you will see two great fighters. Cuellar is very strong and in the future.. I think after this fight he could easily become a champion at 130 or 135 pounds," said Roach.
"Cuellar has tremendous power. He developed a lot more than I expected he would in training camp. And for this fight he's going to throw some really hard punches. I'm really confident that my guy will win and I think that he can do it by knockout," Roach said.
