Santa Cruz-Mares Rematch Press Conference

Fightnews.com

By Miguel Maravilla
Photos: Scott Hirano/SHOWTIME

The rematch is official between Southern California’s featherweight world champions Leo Santa Cruz (34-1-1, 19 KOs) and Abner Mares (31-2-1, 15 KOs). They held a press conference Tuesday afternoon at the Staples Center in Los Angeles to kick things off for their June 9th at the Staples Center live on Showtime.

Leo Santa Cruz: “You all saw the first fight and it was close. This will be a better Mares because he has a different trainer. I’ve seen Mares improve and he will come in seeking revenge. This will be a good fight. See you all June 9th,”

Abner Mares: “This will be another great fight. Leo is a humble guy but I guess I have to be the bad guy in this one. You saw the first fight. It was a toe-to-toe battle and we pleased the fans. This will be a war, I’m fighting for redemption. I can say I will win this fight.”

Ringstar Sports CEO Richard Schaefer: “We all witnessed the first fight. It’s simply impossible when you have Abner to say its a boring fight. When you have Leo, it’s simply impossible to say it’s a boring fight. It’s a 50/50 fight and it will be action at Staples Center.”

TGB Promotions President Tom Brown: “It’s really going to be an incredible fight. We have two Southern California-based fighters. Leo won the first fight by decision, from the opening bell it was an all out brawl. With Leo and Abner you have a lot of pride at stake and they will be fighting for the city championship.”

Santa Cruz and Mares met back in August of 2015 and Santa Cruz won a unanimous decision in their first match.

Since then, Santa Cruz has gone 3-1-1, 2 KO’s, having suffered his only loss to Carl Frampton and avenging it in the rematch, as he is coming off a stoppage over Chris Avalos.

For Mares, he has won his last two fights since suffering the loss to Santa Cruz. A split decision over Luis Cuellar as he won the WBA World featherweight title and in his last fight he won a technical decision over Andres Gutierrez. Mares also comes into this fight with a new trainer, Robert Garcia and the duo has gone 2-0 since hooking up.

“Whatever he brings to the table, we will be ready to adjust. I have to be smart to win. We will give a great fight,” Leo Santa Cruz told Fightnews.com®.