While L.A. sports fans are no doubt fired up as this season gets started, there is another event descending on the Staples Center that will be even more thunderous than the arrival of Steve Nash and Dwight Howard. On November 10th, WBC super bantamweight champion Abner Mares will defend his title against Anselmo Moreno, as he moves up a weight class to try and beat Mares for the belt.
Both fighters have excellent records and are each ferocious competitors in their own right. Mares, a Guadalajara native who represented Mexico on its 2004 Olympic team, is undefeated at 24-0-1, including 13 KO’s. His defeat of Joseph "King Kong" Agbeko for the IBF Bantamweight World Title in 2011 made him a champion, and Mares would later defend the belt in a rematch later that same year. The 26-year-old Mares won his second divisional world title this past April with a 12-round victory over former two-time World Champion Eric "Little Hands Of Steel" Morel that earned him the WBC Super Bantamweight World Championship belt. Having relocated to Los Angeles full time, he now takes on his challenger, who is one year his senior, in his adopted hometown.
27-year-old Anselmo "Chemito" Moreno, a native of Panama, is riding a 27-fight winning streak, with 12 KO's to his name and a record of 33-1-1. Fighting professionally for almost 10 years now, Moreno beat Volodymyr Sydorenko in a 12-round decision in 2008 and has since successfully defended the title nine straight times, including a unanimous decision of former world champ Vic Darchinya. His latest victory came this past April, when he defeated David De La Mora in nine rounds. He is stepping up a weight class to challenge the champ, and hopefully extend his winning streak to 28.
With tickets reaching prices of $200 and the Staples Center being pretty tough to get to unless you live in L.A., it might seem hard to witness this epic showdown, but Showtime has got you covered. Starting at 10 PM (tape delayed on the west coast), the network will feature the fight, as well as its two undercards, Leo Santa Cruz vs. Victor Zaleta and Alfredo Angulo vs. Raul Casarez. For more information on the fight, be sure to visit the website.
