Mares avoids Donaire conflict, will fight at Honda Center Oct. 27
Unlike the Sept. 15 conflict of boxing cards pitting Mexican stars Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., there won’t be another conflict of dates between super-bantamweight champions.
Golden Boy Promotions Chief Executive Richard Schaefer announced to The Times on Wednesday that World Boxing Council champion Abner Mares of Hawaiian Gardens will move off Oct. 13, and fight Anselmo Moreno on Oct. 27 at Honda Center in Anaheim.
The date change clears a conflict with World Boxing Organization and International Boxing Federation super-bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire, who will defend his belts Oct. 13 at Home Depot Center in Carson against Japan’s Toshiaki Nishioka.
The Donaire-Nishioka card will also include an attractive brawl between Oxnard’s Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado.
“I take no joy in having big fights on the same date, and to prove it, we’re moving Abner Mares’ fight,” Schaefer said. “When we heard there would be another fight Oct. 13, we tried to find a different date.”
For Schaefer, that’s a clear jab at his rival promoter Bob Arum, who placed Chavez Jr. on Sept. 15 against former middleweight champion Sergio Martinez at Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas more than a month after Schaefer announced he would have Alvarez fight at MGM Grand in Las Vegas on the same date.
The date is attractive because it’s Mexican Independence Day weekend.
Mares (24-0, 13 knockouts) and Donaire may ultimately square off in 2013, but Schaefer said the push to maximize the audience watching his fighter trumped the convenience of scheduling and should show he operates free of spite.
“Sometimes, you can avoid these collisions,” Schaefer said. “When you can, you have to.”
Schaefer, appearing at a media day for Alvarez in Santa Monica, also announced he has finalized a deal for middleweight Peter Quillin (27-0, 20 KOs) to fight WBO champion Hassan N’Dam on Oct. 20 at the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. -- a card headlined by a junior-welterweight title fight between Danny Garcia and Erik Morales.
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