News of The Day

Catch up on all the news in the boxing world from the past few days!

WORLDWIDE

After his fight with Ray Narh tomorrow night, Jessie Vargas wants a shot at Mexican legend Juan Manuel Marquez next, providing the veteran gets past Bradley.

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum predicts that the fight between Juan Manuel Marquez and Timothy Bradley this weekend will do between 350,000 and 400,000 PPV buys. He also believes Pacquiao Vs Rios can reach 750K.

Santa Cruz steps up to 122lb, McDonnell & Ceja to fight for vacant belt.

By Jack Price @PriceyJ97.

Leo Santa Cruz.

Young boxing superstar Leo Santa Cruz (23-0, 13 KO's) has made the decision to vacate his IBF bantamweight title and step up to the highly-competitive super-bantamweight division. This move has been coming for a relatively long time and Cruz and his team finally made it official on Monday, a day before the negotiations were set to start for his mandatory title defense against Jamie McDonnell.

The 24-year old was one of the breakthrough stars of 2012, fighting on five occasions and looking impressive every time. He is now in search for the "big" fights at 122lb. The California-resident has long been linked with a mouth-watering bout with Abner Mares, another young fighter who made it into the big time in 2012. However, Mares looks set to step up to featherweight in search for a fight with WBC champ Daniel Ponce De Leon so that fight looks unlikely at this current time. But there's still plenty of exciting match-ups for Cruz at super-bantamweight, and his promoters at Golden Boy agree.

"For the first fight at the higher weight class we want to pick a quality opponent and we see that in the next two or so fights Leo will be fighting for a world title again," said Golden Boy Chief Executive Richard Schaefer. "We will have to see what is available for him for a big fight, but we believe as a company, that in no particular order, Leo Santa Cruz, (Nonito) Donaire, Abner Mares, (Guillermo) Rigondeaux and Gary Russell Jr. are the best guys in these weight classes (super-bantamweight and featherweight), and we are not afraid to put Leo in with anyone."

Abner Mares considering a move to featherweight!

By Jack Price @PriceyJ97. 

WBC super-bantamweight world champion Abner Mares is considering a move up in weight if a unification bout with WBO champ Nonito Donaire cannot be made.

"My promoter (Golden Boy) and Top Rank said they are pushing for this fight, but to be frank I'm hopeful that someday they can do it and it disappoints me a lot, because it's a big fight for me and people want it," Mares told Rene Umanzor of The Record. "In my division there is nothing but opponents who are just coming up, and I do not want to be (a) step (for them). I want to fight the best, and right now I (I'm thinking about moving to featherweight) to face a champion in that division."

Golden Boy's chief promoter Oscar De La Hoya recently went on record saying that he would love to stage a fight between Mares and IBF bantamweight champ Leo Santa Cruz. Mares, 27, claims that he is willing to face Cruz but would much rather take on Donaire.

De La Hoya looking to stage Mares Vs Cruz!

By Jack Price @PriceyJ97

Oscar De La Hoya, president of Golden Boy Promotions is eager to make a fight between WBC super-bantamweight champion Abner Mares and IBF bantamweight world champ Leo Santa Cruz.

Both men are unbeaten and, although  they're world champions, they still are far away from the peak of their careers, but this does seem like a fight that is likely to happen. Both fighters are promoted by Golden Boy and are happy to fight as many times as possible at this current time.

Cruz (23-0-1, 13 KO's) has been interested in fighting Mares for a very long time, and has made this clear in almost every one of the five post-fight interviews he has had in 2012. However this isn't the No.1 priority on Mares' list. The 27-year old is targeting super-bantamweight king and pound-for-pound contender Nonito Donaire. Unfortunately there isn't much chance of this fight happening as Donaire is promoted by Golden Boy's main rivals Top Rank.