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Tonight, live on Showtime’s “World Championship Boxing” event, we will see four excellent 12-round attractions.
Headlining the card will be Mexican warrior Abner Mares (24-0-1 13 KO’s) defending his WBC Super Bantamweight championship against former Bantamweight titleholder, the skilled and very slick Anselmo “Chemito” Moreno (33-1-1 12 KO’s).
The undercard will also feature brawling fan-favorite Alfredo “El Perro” Angulo (20-2-0 17 KO’s) going up against journeyman Raul Casarez (19-2-0 9 KO’s), skilled British WBO Champion Nathan Cleverly (24-0-0 11 KO’s) facing Native American Shawn Hawk (23-2-1 17 KO’s) and IBF Bantamweight titleholder Leo Santa Cruz (21-0-1 12 KO’s) facing Victor Zaleta (20-2-1 10 KO’s).
The first major fight of the evening’s televised will be Nathan Cleverly against Shawn Hawk. This fight is labeled as a solid showcase bout for the rising Welsh champion.
Cleverly has had a fantastic career in the United Kingdom, facing regional opposition but has yet to step up to any serious opponent and Hawk,of Native American descent, is expected to, at most, test Cleverly but never actually present a genuine danger to threaten the Welshman’s likely impressive and rare appearance in the US.
The second televised contest will pit one of boxing’s most beloved fighters Alfredo “El Perro” Angulo against Raul Casarez.
Angulo is coming off a one year layoff from a shocking knockout loss to American James Kirkland in a Fight of the Year candidate and then struggling through an immigration related detainment in the US.
At least fans can be glad Angulo has returned as every time he fight, he never backs down, even in his roughest losses. Many think he’ll break down Casarez with pressure while I am going with an early stoppage but ring rust may, of course, be a factor.
Now, on to what is labeled as the co-feature; talented Mexican-American boxer Leo Santa Cruz defends his IBF Bantamweight title against Victor Zaleta.
Santa Cruz is now looking to build upon recent wins against fellow contenders Vusi Malinga and Eric Morel, hoping to involve himself in potential world-title unification bouts with fellow talents in the lower weight classes.
Could one of these contests possibly be against the winner of the main event, Moreno vs. Mares?
As projected with the other contests on this show, so far I don’t predict that Zaleta is significant enough in many areas to defeat Santa Cruz.
The main event is what steams up this card for me; I can barely believe it is happening. Abner Mares is a durable and powerful fighter, entertaining to watch. His opponent, Anselmo Moreno, is referred to by me as a miniature Pernell Whitaker; so fast and slick.
This southpaw is a stylistic nightmare as it is, but he can also bang. And while I see many stylistic advantages for Moreno, as he is the more “awkward” of the two, Mares is no joke and if either man wins, there would be little surprise.
Comparing their fights against a common opponent, using hard hitting Armenian Vic Darchinyan as a measuring stick, Moreno easily beat him with his superb skills and Mares beat him in a close war.
With care, Moreno can outbox Abner Mares, but this is inevitably a massive fight for both with a lot of risk on the line.
The best against the best is happening now!
Tune in live on Showtime from 10 PM EST for the main three fights and Showtime Extreme for the undercard including Cleverly vs. Hawk at 8 PM EST.
Corey Quincy is a freelance writer for Saddoboxing.com, his personal blog Blboxing.com and various other media outlets. Like his page on Facebook at Boxing Legends and follow him on Twitter at Quincyboxingfan!
