Premier Boxing Champions on ESPN: Undefeated World Champion Leo Santa Cruz vs. Former Three-Division World Champion Abner Mares

Premier Boxing Champions on ESPN (PBC on ESPN) presented by Corona Extra will feature live coverage on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and WatchESPN on Saturday, August 29 at 10 p.m. ET from Los Angeles’ STAPLES Center of a 12-round featherweight bout between Southern California-based superstars: undefeated Leo “El Terremoto” Santa Cruz (30-0-1, 17 KOs) and former three-division world champion Abner Mares (29-1-1, 15 Kos).

Host Marysol Castro, blow-by-blow commentator Joe Tessitore, Teddy Atlas and reporters Todd Grisham and Bernardo Osuna comprise ESPN’s commentary team. In addition, Hall of Fame boxing writer and ESPN boxing contributor Nigel Collins will provide social media content, insight and analysis.

Pablo Viruega and Delvin Rodríguez will call the fights on ESPN Deportes, while Leopoldo Gonzalez and Claudia Trejos will co-host. Joe Cortez will also provide analysis. In addition, ESPN Deportes’ and Mexican boxing legends, Juan Manuel Marquez and Julio Cesar Chavez join coverage with analysis across a variety of shows, including special editions of Golpe a Golpe on Friday for the weigh-in, and on Saturday in anticipation of the event.

Fighter backgrounds:
A two-division world champion with a fan-friendly style, the 26-year-old Santa Cruz won his first world title in 2012 before adding another belt in 2013, which he defended four times. Unbeaten as a pro, Santa Cruz moved up in weight in his last fight and handily defeated Jose Cayetano on the pay-per-view undercard of the record-breaking Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao fight. Born and raised in Los Angeles to Mexican parents, Santa Cruz faces the toughest challenge of his career when he squares off against the Mexican warrior Mares.

Born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico and fighting out of Downey, Calif., Mares first tasted world championship gold in 2011 when he beat Joseph Agbeko to win the bantamweight world title. He continued his rise up the pound-for-pound list with wins over Anselmo Moreno and Daniel Ponce De Leon to win world titles at super bantamweight and featherweight respectively. The 29-year-old has won three straight fights including his first PBC appearance in a victory over Arturo Reyes in March. He will look to add another career milestone and take hometown bragging rights by defeating the unbeaten Santa Cruz.

Additional Highlights:
ESPN will provide live coverage of Friday’s weigh-in the 6 p.m. hour of SportsCenter, with Tessitore and Atlas providing commentary. ESPN3 will stream live coverage of Friday’s weigh-in and a live undercard fight featuring Mexican favorite Alfredo “El Perro” Angulo taking on Hector “The Hurricane” Munoz at 9 p.m, on the Saturday of the fight.

ESPN.com will present comprehensive coverage, including pre- and post-fight features, videos and blogs from ESPN’s Dan Rafael, Brian Campbell, and Nigel Collins and ESPN.com’s boxing program “Making the Rounds”.

ESPN Deportes will dedicate more than five hours of live, on-site programming around PBC, beginning Friday, August 28 with live segments, interviews and analysis during the following shows: Los Capitanes (3 p.m.), Golpe a Golpe Weigh-In Show (6 p.m.), Cronometro (7 p.m.) and SportsCenter (7:30 p.m.)

A special edition of Golpe a Golpe will air at 9 p.m. on Saturday, leading up to the fight, followed by post event SportsCenter (12 a.m.), all telecast live.

Coverage around the bout will be led by ESPN Deportes experts Jorge Eduardo Sanchez and David Faitelson alongside Marquez and Chavez.

This is the third installment of Premier Boxing Champions on ESPN which debuted July 11. The August 1 bout that featured a doubleheader: Garcia vs. Malignaggi and Jacobs vs. Mora, delivered the largest boxing audience on ESPN since 1998 (5/22/98 Bronco McKart vs Ronald Weaver). An average audience of 1,073,000 viewers (P2+) watched the event.