Schaefer to promote Charlo / Williams; Cuellar – Mares doubleheader on December 10 at USC

Promoter Richard Schafer will make his return to promoting as he will co-promote this December 10 championship doubleheader that will feature junior middleweight tittlist Jermall Charlo taking on Julian Williams, while featherweight Jesus Cuellar defends against Abner Mares at the Galen Center on the USC Campus, according to to Dan Rafael of espn.com

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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

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.”

“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.”