Velez Ready For Eliminator, Waiting on Abner Mares

By Salvador Rodriguez

According to World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman, they are holding the date of May 29th for a purse bid in connection with a WBC final featherweight eliminator between Abner Mares and Jayson Velez. The winner would get a crack at the WBC featherweight champion Jhonny Gonzalez.

Velez is ready to take the fight, but he believes Mares has other plans and doesn't intend to take part in the eliminator. Until Mares' plans are communicated to the WBC, Sulaiman will keep the purse bid date in place.

"We ordered a final eliminator between Mares and Velez to get a challenger to Jhonny Gonzalez. We sent letters to both teams to let them know the decision of the Governing Board and hopefully they reach an agreement, and if not it will go to a purse bid," Sulaiman said. 

Gaby Peñagarícano, legal advisor Miguel Cotto Promotions, says Velez is ready.

"Jayson Velez is very pleased with the decision ordering the WBC featherweight eliminator with Mares. Mares is an opponent that Jayson has always been very interested in challenging," said Peñagarícano.

Mares has a tentative return date of June 21 at the SubHub Center in Los Angeles. No opponent has been set as of yet. Mares has been out of the ring since last August's shocking first round TKO defeat at the hands of Jhonny Gonzalez.