Richard Schaefer likes the notion that he was missed during his time away

Former Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, center, looks on as boxers Floyd Mayweather Jr.  and Canelo Alvarez  pose before their 2013 fight. Schaefer left Golden Boy and is now starting Ringstar.  (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Promoter Richard Schaefer, center, said he found out he was missed during his time away from boxing/Photo by Ethan Miller, Getty Images

 

Promoter Richard Schaefer has spent more than two years on the sidelines after resigning his post as CEO of Golden Boy Promotions in June 2014. He didn’t go to a lot of fights during that time, but the few he did attend contained a message he really liked.

“I went to only a handful of fights during that time, maybe five or six,” said Schaefer, who is president and founder of Ringstar Sports. “I went to Floyd (Mayweather Jr.’s) fights, I went to a couple of fights in New York. And I was sort of touched by the kind of reception I got from the fans when I came into the venue, ‘Hey, Schaefer, we need you back, we want you back. Boxing is not the same.’

“The same with fighters. Fighters said, ‘We need you to create these events you used to create and the hype and everything which goes with it.’ ”

Schaefer is back in the saddle and will be co-promoting Saturday’s card at USC’s Galen Center that will be headlined by the featherweight title fight between Abner Mares of Hawaiian Gardens and champion Jesus Cuellar of Argentina (on Showtime).

Ringstar will also be co-promoting the Jan. 28 featherweight championship rematch between champion Carl Frampton of Northern Ireland and Leo Santa Cruz of Lincoln Heights (on Showtime).

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Dejan Zlaticanin predicts knockout of Mikey Garcia on Dec. 10 at Galen Center

Dejan Zlaticanin

Dejan Zlaticanin/Photo courtesy of Premier Boxing Champions

 

Dejan Zlaticanin of Montenegro won the lightweight world title with a third-round stoppage of Franklin Mamani of Bolivia in June in Verona, N.Y. It made him kind of a big deal in his homeland.

“To be the first world champion from Montenegro is historic,”  Zlaticanin said. “I think it’s made me a national hero in the country and I’m honored. The people in my country love me and I love them back.”

Zlaticanin (22-0, 15 KOs)  wants them to love him even more and he figures a successful title defense over someone like Mikey Garcia will do just that. The two square off Dec. 10 at Galen Center (on Showtime) underneath the main event between Abner Mares of Hawaiian Gardens and featherweight champion  Jesus Cuellar of Argentina.

“When I beat Mikey Garcia, that will make me an even bigger star,” Zlaticanin said at Thursday’s news conference in Los Angeles. “I think Mikey is a good puncher, and he has good timing, but I can hit him easily and I’m planning to knock him out.”
Garcia (35-0, 29 KOs), of Oxnard, has won world titles at featherweight and super featherweight. He relishes the chance to win one in a third.
“I’m really happy to have been given this opportunity to claim a world title in a third division,” Garcia said. “This is going to be an amazing fight. He’s a hungry world champion. He’s very dangerous. These are the kind of fights that I want. This is what I need to prove myself.”
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Jesus Cuellar confident ahead of his Dec. 10 defense against Abner Mares

Jesus Cuellar/Photo courtesy of BoxRec.com

 

There is a lot to be said for confidence. Featherweight champion Jesus Cuellar (28-1, 21 KOs) of Argentina appears to have that ahead of his Dec. 10 defense against Abner Mares (29-2-1, 15 KOs) of Hawaiian Gardens at USC’s Galen Center (on Showtime). But he knows no matter how good he feels about himself, he has to perform when the bell rings.

“This is an important fight that I’ve wanted for a long time,” Cuellar said Tuesday at City of Angels Boxing Club in Los Angeles. “It’s an important fight for my career and to prove to everyone how good I am.
“Abner Mares is a high-level fighter. I have to beat him to reach the next level of this sport. That’s what I’m preparing to do. You’re going to see everything I’ve learned on Dec. 10. I love to train hard and I’ve improved greatly as a fighter. I’m going to put it all together in the ring.”
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Abner Mares believes champion Jesus Cuellar is ‘strong competition’

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Abner Mares/Photo courtesy of Premier Boxing Champions

Abner Mares on Tuesday talked a lot about having trainer Robert Garcia on his team for the first time. The two will combine talents Dec. 10 when Mares challenges Jesus Cuellar of Argentina for his featherweight world title at USC’s Galen Center (on Showtime).

But when we asked Mares to size up Cuellar, the hard-hitting champion with a record of 28-1 and 21 knockouts, Mares said very little.

“I think he’s strong competition,” Mares, of Hawaiian Gardens, said at the City of Angels Boxing Club in Los Angeles. “That’s it.”

Cuellar is going to be the hardest puncher Mares has faced since he was knocked out in the first round by Jhonny Gonzalez in August 2013 at StubHub Center.

Mares, who turned 31 on Monday, is 29-2-1 with 15 knockouts. He has won world titles in three weight classes.

Cuellar, 29, will be looking to make his second successful defense.

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Abner Mares, Leo Santa Cruz ready to rumble Aug. 29 at Staples Center

Leo Santa Cruz, left, and Abner Mares engage in the traditional staredown following their news conference Tuesday at Plaza Mexico in Lynwood/Photo by Craig Bennett, TGB Promotions

 

LYNWOOD – Fights between L.A.-area boxers have always commanded a lot of attention, especially when they are contested in Los Angeles. Abner Mares of Hawaiian Gardens and Leo Santa Cruz of Lincoln Heights will be hard-pressed to live up to Danny “Little Red” Lopez-Bobby “Schoolboy” Chacon in 1974 at the Sports Arena and Albert “Tweety” Davila-Frankie Duarte in 1977 at the Olympic Auditorium.

But they figure to give it a heck of a try.

Mares and Santa Cruz on Tuesday at Plaza Mexico played host to a news conference to formally announce their Aug. 29 featherweight fight at Staples Center (on
ESPN).

Mares has won titles in the bantamweight, super bantamweight and featherweight divisions. Santa Cruz has won championships in the bantamweight and super
bantamweight divisions.

There will be no major belt on the line in this one. With their credentials, it doesn’t matter.

“This is the biggest fight of my career – I think the biggest and the hardest,” said the 26-year-old Santa Cruz, who attended Lincoln High. “And to fight here at Staples Center in my hometown is a big privilege and an honor for me.

“So I have to leave everything on the line. I have to be 100 percent prepared. He has a lot of fans here, too, in Southern California. I think (it will be) like 50-50, so this fight is going to show who is the king of L.A.”

The aforementioned fights from yesteryear were mentioned to Mares. He then made a bold statement about this fight.

“It’s up there, man, it’s up there,” said Mares, 29; he attended Artesia High. “I’m not just saying it. I think we’re going to prove it come Aug. 29. Leo Santa Cruz is not known for being a guy that holds, he’s not known for his boxing skills, he’s just known for a fighter that comes forward and throws a volume of punches, and vice versa.

“I’m known as a warrior, I’m known as a guy that’s been in many fights, many wars. So I think when you two put fighters like that with those styles, it just turns out to be one of the best fights in decades. I think it’s going to turn out to be one of those (Arturo) Gatti-(Micky) Ward-type fights.”

The two sparred together some years ago, but neither would say he got the better of the other. There were some comments that seemed to stir a pot that could be
boiling by Aug. 29.

Mares is 29-1-1 with 15 knockouts. After making the only defense of his super bantamweight belt with a victory over Anselmo Moreno, Mares moved up in weight and took the featherweight title from Daniel Ponce De Leon on May 2013 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

But Mares was knocked out in the first round by Jhonny Gonzalez at StubHub Center that August. Mares has since won three consecutive fights, though he has not been overly impressive. Santa Cruz believes Mares is not the same fighter he was before the Gonzalez fight.

“I have seen his last three fights and, no, he hasn’t been the same guy as before,” Santa Cruz said. “But he knows this is a really important fight and he
knows that he has a lot to lose in this fight, so I know he’s going to come prepared.”

Of the left hook Gonzalez landed that hurt Mares so badly, Santa Cruz went so far as to say, “It looks like he still has that punch right there in his head.”

Mares scoffed.

“My response to that is that, keep thinking that,” Mares said. “I’m not going to tell him otherwise. Keep thinking that. He’s going to have his thoughts in his mind, you know, that are brought to him by his team.

“He should be concentrating more about what I’m bringing to the ring, than what I’m thinking about my defeat, you know what I’m  saying?”

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