According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, 122 lb world champion Abner Mares will defend his title against classy Bantamweight champion Anselmo Moreno on October 27th in Anaheim, California.
The bout will be televised on Showtime
“I’m reviewing the contracts with my lawyer, but we are just making sure everything is in order,” said Moreno’s adviser Sampson Lewkowicz. “But the fight will definitely happen. The only way it doesn’t happen is if Mares changes his mind.
“Chemito Moreno has said he wants to fight Abner Mares all of the time — at 118, 122 or 126 pounds,” Lewkowicz said. “I believe there is nobody at 118 or 122 or 126 that can beat my fighter. It will be a very good fight but I think the difference between Abner Mares and Moreno is that Chemito Moreno requested to fight Abner Mares and Abner Mares took the fight because he basically had no choice. There was no one else acceptable in this moment to Showtime for him to fight other than Chemito Moreno.
“When I received the call we took this fight right away. For Mares and his manager (Frank Espinoza), they took a few weeks to make the decision. All of my fighters will take fights in a heartbeat. I prove that time after time. My fighters fight anyone. Sergio Martinez, Gabriel Campillo, Javier Fortuna and Chemito Moreno, all of them. We don’t need to talk too much. But he is very excited for this fight because he wants to fight the best. They say Mares is the best, so he wants to fight him.”
“Mares I think, without question, is one of the stars of the division and Moreno is one of the most skilled fighters in any division, and one of the underappreciated gems of the sport,” Showtime’s Stephen Espinoza said. “You put them together and there are bound to be fireworks.
“I have said I wanted to avoid date conflicts whenever possible,” Espinoza said. “It’s not always possible (such as on Sept. 15), but we’re trying to put our money where our mouth is, so when the opportunity came up to get a venue that made sense on Oct. 27, we immediately jumped on it to avoid the conflict, especially since the other fight (Donaire-Nishioka) was in the same division.”
