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To let Oscar tell it, he wants to make the fights the fans want. He just wants to make good fights, period. In doing so, he'd like to put some of his prize fighters in tough against one another. In particular, I think its safe to say that we (the fans) don't want anymore spoon-fed opponents for Leo Santa Cruz, Amir Khan, and the like.
"Leo Santa Cruz is coming off of a good fight, and Abner Mares is coming off of a tough fight," De La Hoya told RingTV.com on Monday. "And they're both ready to step up. The same goes for Amir Khan and Guerrero."
"I want to see Leo Santa Cruz fight Abner Mares. There's no other fight that could made of interest unless we can strike a deal with (Guillermo) Rigondeaux," said De La Hoya of THE RING 122-pound champion and holder of the WBA and WBO belts. "I would love to see Leo Santa Cruz against Abner Mares at The Staples Center here in Los Angeles. I would like to see that early next year."
Santa Cruz vs. Mares sounds like an uncharacteristically good fight in a year full of mismatches, and one that's much better suited for Santa Cruz than a Rigondeaux fight, in my estimation. Mares certainly isn't anyone's cakewalk - and realistically its a pick-em fight - but perhaps Leo can capitalize on any lingering doubt left in the mind of Mares after that crushing left hook from Jhonny Gonzalez.
That aside, Oscar also has designs on closing out the year with an Amir Khan - Robert Guerrero fight.
"A great venue for Khan and Guerrero, and maybe where that fight belongs, would be the Barclays Center in New York," said De La Hoya. "The fans are just amazing at The Barclays Center, and I believe that we can close out the year with a big fight like that at The Barclays Center in December. If not December, then, early next year."
Clearly another pick-em fight if it comes to fruition. Khan certainly has some physical advantages over Guerrero with his pure speed, but I've never seen The Ghost get deterred and considering Khan's suspect chin, he's seemingly always vulnerable to getting clipped. Both fun fights. Let's see some signed contracts.