Richard Schaefer back in business with Cuellar-Mares and Charlo-Williams

Dan Rafael
ESPN Senior Writer

Six months after they were first scheduled to meet, featherweight titleholder Jesus Cuellar and Abner Mares will finally fight in the main event of a world title doubleheader that will also mark promoter Richard Schaefer’s first event in 2½ years.

Cuellar-Mares, along with the co-feature of junior middleweight titleholder Jermall Charlo in a mandatory defense against Julian “J Rock” Williams, will take place on Dec. 10 (Showtime) at the Galen Center, which is on the campus of USC in Los Angeles, Schaefer said.

“These are two 50-50 fights and they not only are stylistically great fights, but you can’t imagine either being a boring fight,” Schaefer said on Sunday night. “Both of them are important in their respective weight classes.”

Schaefer has not promoted a boxing card since he spearheaded Floyd Mayweather’s first fight against Marcos Maidana in May 2014 as CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, which Schaefer co-founded with Oscar De La Hoya in 2002. But a month after Mayweather-Maidana I, Schaefer resigned in the final step of his bad falling out with De La Hoya over the direction of the company. Per his contract, Schaefer had to sit out for about a year, but he took things slowly before announcing the creation of his new company, Ringstar Sports, in June.

“I’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” Schaefer said. “I’m happy to come back with an event like this. I’m excited to be putting [together] great events again. I like to create events, big cards, big events, stacked pay-per-views. Fight fans and fight freaks can look forward to more to come.

“I’m excited to have this kind of card for Ringstar and looking forward to co-promoting it with Tom Brown (of TGB Promotions). It’s my first time working with him on a card.”
Featherweight contender Abner Mares has been cleared to fight against Jesus Cuellar by renowned ophthalmologist Dr. Steven Steinschriber and the California State Athletic Commission. Abel Madrid/Premier Boxing Champions
Cuellar and Mares were initially scheduled to square off on June 25 in New York, but Mares failed his pre-fight eye exam and the New York State Athletic Commission would not license him because his uncorrected vision did not meet the state’s minimum standard of 20/200. Mares had surgery for a detached retina in 2008, but he has reported no problems with his eye since.

Schaefer, who promoted Mares for years when they were both with Golden Boy, said he wanted to be reassured about the health of Mares’ eye before he agreed to put on Cuellar-Mares. Schaefer said he spoke to the fighter and his wife, his doctor and the California State Athletic Commission.

“I wanted to make sure Abner is OK, and I sat down with him and his wife and wanted to hear directly from him that he was fit to fight,” Schaefer said. “I wanted to hear from his own mouth there is no issues with his eyes. But I think if you ask a fighter if they’re OK, more often than not they’ll tell you they are, so I also wanted to talk to his doctor.”

Schaefer said he spoke to Dr. Steven Steinschriber, a renowned Los Angeles-based ophthalmologist.

“I talked to him and he made it clear to me Abner is clear to fight,” Schaefer said. “I talked to fighter and the doctor and the commission and Abner is clear to fight, and not only clear to fight but safe to fight, so we made the fight. I’m very excited to see the fight because they are both entertainers, and I know they’ll give us a great show.”

Cuellar (29-1, 21 KOs), 29, of Argentina, will be making the third defense of his secondary title and ending a one-year layoff since a unanimous decision against Jonathan Oquendo last December.

Los Angeles-based Mexico native Mares (29-2-1, 15 KOs), who turns 31 next month, is a former featherweight, junior featherweight and bantamweight world titleholder. He has not fought since August 2015, when he dropped a majority decision to L.A. rival Leo Santa Cruz at Staples Center in an action-packed fight for a vacant featherweight belt.
Jesus Cuellar’s last fight was an unanimous decision victory over Jonathan Oquendo at the Barclays Center in December 2015.. AP Photo/Rich Schultz
Charlo-Williams was initially being planned for early October, but the fight was delayed because Charlo received a 60-day medical exception to his mandatory in order to have a LASIK procedure on his eyes to improve his vision in July.

Charlo (24-0, 18 KOs), 26, of Houston, whose twin brother Jermell also holds a 154-pound world title, will be making his third defense since winning it in September 2015.

Williams (22-0-1, 14 KOs), 26, of Philadelphia, became the mandatory challenger by virtue of a seventh-round knockout of Italy’s Marcello Matano in a title eliminator in March.
“It’s a fight which has been asked for by fight fans,” Schaefer said. “It’s one of the best fights you can make in the division. I expect fireworks. Sometimes with mandatories you are stuck with a fight nobody wants to see, but in this case, it’s a fight everyone wants to see.”

The card will be the second in Galen Center history and first since May 2014, when it hosted Bermane Stiverne’s sixth-round knockout of Chris Arreola to win a vacant heavyweight world title on ESPN. Schaefer, a Switzerland native who has lived for many years in Los Angeles, said his goal when he founded Ringstar was to have his first event in his adopted hometown.

“I wanted to do my first event as a meaningful event where it’s a great card to be proud of, and I really wanted it to be in Los Angeles,” he said. “When this card was shaping up, I threw my hat in the ring and talked to Al (Haymon, adviser to all four featured fighters). I said this is an event I’d like to be involved with, and that’s how it happened. I’m especially excited to be doing the card on the USC campus because that’s where two of my (three) boys go to college.”