While they were originally supposed to meet in a rematch of their fight two years ago, Leo Santa Cruz and Abner Mares will instead be sharing a FOX card against two different opponents on October 14th. This is meant to be a tune up in preparation for them meeting one another early next year. Leo Santa Cruz will fight Chris Avalos while Abner Mares will meet Andres Gutierrez.
Leo Santa Cruz (33-1-1, 18 KOs) and Abner Mares (30-2-1, 15 KOs) originally fought two years ago in a contest that Santa Cruz won by a nonsense majority decision. Two of the scorecards rightly came back wide for the three division titleholder, but the third came back an absurd draw that Abner Mares did not deserve. Santa Cruz clearly won the contest. From this perspective it is strange that it is Santa Cruz’s camp insisting on a tune up to take a WBA mandated rematch against a fighter he already easily beat.
Beyond that, these are reasonably easy fights. Chris Avalos (27-5, 20 KOs) and Andres Gutierrez (35-1-1, 25 KOs) are good fighters, but there is a wide gap between them and the likes of Santa Cruz and Mares. Avalos will likely make the fight fun for a couple rounds, but he is almost guaranteed to be wiped away in the main event. 24 year old Gutierrez has a slightly lesser challenge in Mares and is still young and improving, but even his upset odds are pretty low. They are better than Avalos’s though. Hopefully this time Andres Gutierrez avoids and shower related accidents like the one that canceled his title eliminator with Carl Frampton earlier this year.
Source: Los Angeles Times
