Leo Santa Cruz and Abner Mares return early Saturday evening on FOX in separate bouts presumably designed to drum up interest in their mandate rematch early next year. I am not sure this is going to help, but maybe I guess. Opening the show is PBC junior welterweight prospect Eddie Ramirez getting a big spotlight against former top lightweight Antonio DeMarco.
When Leo Santa Cruz (33-1-1, 18 KOs) and Abner Mares (30-2-1, 15 KOs) met in the summer of 2015, Santa Cruz left a clear winner. Mares had some success charging forward early, but by the end of the fight Santa Cruz was boxing comfortably from the outside without much quality at all coming back from Mares. It was a ten rounds to two, nine rounds to three kind of fight. It certainly wasn’t a fight that anyone felt needed a rematch.
The WBA in their infinite wisdom/belts, however, thinks otherwise. Supposedly to unify their convoluted title picture, they have ordered these two to meet once more. Somewhat confusingly, Leo Santa Cruz, the man who comfortably won the first meeting, insisted on tune up bouts first before the rematch. That is how we got here.
In the show’s main event, Santa Cruz will be facing veteran brawler Chris Avalos (27-5, 20 KOs). Avalos is a fun fighter with some real power. Back before his first loss in 2010, the Californian was considered a real prospect. Over time his limitations have come to light, however. Avalos’s offense is powerful, but often wild and crude. Consistently he puts himself in the line of fire with risky shots that don’t pay off.
Fighters like Carl Frampton, Oscar Valdez, and top Filipino prospect Mark Magsayo have all stopped him in the middle rounds by taking advantage of this. Leo Santa Cruz isn’t a puncher like these guys, but I still figure he will find a stoppage in the last third of the fight. He is going to be able to land anything he wants here. Avalos will try, but don’t count on him to have much of a chance of succeeding.
Abner Mares is in a little tougher with Andres Gutierrez (35-1-1, 25 KOs), but not by a lot. Gutierrez’s loss came last June to former super flyweight unified titlist Cristian Mijares by decision. Mijares has surprisingly made a good second career for himself on the domestic Mexican scene fighting way up in weight, but by all accounts this was a pretty bad decision. Gutierrez just have a pretty good win on his resume there instead of a loss.
Given that Mares is not exactly untouchable and in against a young Mexican prospect with a chip on his shoulder who should be unbeaten, an upset here isn’t inconceivable in the same way that it is in the main event. It is still unlikely, but at least seemingly possible. Andres Gutierrez is the same guy who was supposed to fight Carl Frampton earlier this year, by the way. A last minute shower accident canceled that one. You can’t make this stuff up, but hopefully Gutierrez just chooses to come into this one smelly to be safe.
The most compelling fight of the card is its little hyped opener between PBC prospect junior welterweight prospect Eddie Ramirez (17-0, 11 KOs) and former lightweight world titleholder Antonio DeMarco (32-6-1, 23 KOs). It is hard to say what exactly DeMarco has left in the tank, but if he is near what he was then the former WBC titlist represents a big step up in class for Eddie Ramirez.
Ramirez, an Illinois native, has been matched tough against fellow unbeatens like Ryan Karl and Kevin Watts on PBC’s FS1 Toe-to-Toe Tuesday series. Last time out he did struggle against perennial tough out Erik Bone, but he still got the win.
DeMarco burst on the scene with a shocking, come from behind stoppage of Jorge Linares back in 2011. He also holds a first round stoppage win over John Molina during that reign, but he lost his belt to a then still dynamic lightweight version of Adrien Broner a year later. He moved up to junior welterweight and got a title shot there in 2014 against Jessie Vargas, but this started a three fight losing streak that stretched through 2015 with losses against Rances Barthelemy and Omar Figueroa Jr too.
After over a year away from the sport following his competitive but fair loss to Figueroa, DeMarco returned in February for an easy tune up. At a particularly old 31, DeMarco is likely past his best, but he could still bring some quality work to the ring. This is a textbook step up style test for Eddie Ramirez and a compelling fight for it.
Note that this card starts early at 7:30 on FOX so as to not conflict with the second PBC card of the night on Showtime.
