by Steve Kim
This Saturday night from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, a rematch takes place between WBA featherweight titlist, Leo Santa Cruz, and Abner Mares, who fought back in the summer of 2015 with Santa Cruz taking a hard-fought twelve round decision at the same venue.
Many are hoping that the winner of this bout will be paired off against WBC champion, Gary Russell Jr. To Richard Schaefer, the head of Ringstar Sports(which is promoting this event), it's just one of many appealing match-ups that can be made in this division.
"I think the 126 pound weight class is the most loaded weight class," Schaefer stated. "I mean, the welterweights are pretty loaded, as well, but I have to say with that new kid emerging out of the UK, (Josh) Warrington, who really impressed me with his performance against Lee Selby. I thought Lee was going to win because he's such a good fighter but for Warrington to do what what he did, there's a new player on the on the scene there."
On May 19th, Warrington defeated Selby over twelve rounds to win the IBF belt.
"Of course we have Carl Frampton there, we have Oscar Valdez, we have Gary Russell who turned in a terrific performance against a game 'JoJo' Diaz, I think 'JoJo' Diaz has absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. I think he'll move onto other fights and Gary was just a bit too slick and too fast, in a way like (Floyd) Mayweather was with 'Canelo' (Saul Alvarez). But 'Canelo's biggest days were ahead of him so you learn from these performances and he's still a young kid and still fights in that division," said Schaefer.
There's no doubt that this is a deep and talented division with established names.
"It's unbelievable and the good thing is you can pretty much mix-and-match, all of them are going to be mouth watering match-up,''continued Schaefer."So as it relates to the winner (of Santa Cruz-Mares II) we have to see what would be the biggest fight. If the second fight is doing to be as exciting as the first fight was, which was a very close fight - some actually gave it to Mares, others had it a draw - this fight is going to live up to what it will deliver than maybe a third fight would make the most sense.
"So it's sort of difficult to assess that right now. I think we have to see how this plays out and then make a decision. Obviously, Frampton would love to see Santa Cruz win, Frampton would love to have another fight with Santa Cruz. If Mares wins than maybe a third fight is the fight. There's Gary Russell who has stated he does want to unify, he wants to be more active. That's great, he's got unbelievable God-given talent. So I think it's great to be in the 126-pound division and there's great opportunities for all of those fights."
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.