Former Olympian Dominic Breazeale returns to London seeking different outcome

Dominic Breazeale hopes his upcoming trip to England has a more pleasant ending.

The American heavyweight failed in his quest to win gold at the 2012 London Olympics, and he’s still bitter about losing his first fight there. On June 25, the Los Angeles-based fighter gets the opportunity to become world heavyweight champion when he faces IBF champ Anthony Joshua at the O2 Arena in London on Showtime.

At his media day Wednesday, Breazeale (17-0, 15 knockouts) said he’s not all that impressed with Joshua (16-0, 16 KOs), even though Joshua won the gold medal in London as a super heavyweight and has been perfect since turning pro.

“I think, in general, he’s kind of had a little bit of a steppingstone as far as fighting in the Olympics in his backyard, having the judges there in his backyard,” Breazeale said. “I don’t know if you saw the fight, but when he fought in that final match for the gold medal, I was sitting third row and I hands down believe that he lost.”

Breazeale, 30, who was a quarterback at Northern Colorado, turned to boxing eight years ago. He is anxious to go back to London.

“It means a lot to get a chance to fight in the U.K. again,” Breazeale said. “I get a chance to put closure on a door that’s still open. To go there and fight in the 2012 Olympics and come out with one loss — a lot of hard work was put into preparing for my amateur competition.

“I understand and believe I’m a completely different fighter. Not only am I a professional, but I no longer fight an amateur style. I would consider myself a knockout artist with some pretty good punching power, and that’s what I plan on showing the U.K. fans and my U.S. following. It’s a chapter that needs to be closed, and I plan on doing that.’’

MARES LIKES CHANGE

So far, Abner Mares is pleased with his decision to change trainers and work with Robert Garcia as he prepares for his return to the ring June 25 against WBA featherweight champion Jesus Cuellar on the undercard of the Keith Thurman-Shawn Porter welterweight title fight June 25 at Barclays Center in New York on CBS.

Mares, who lost a tough fight to Leo Santa Cruz last August, made the change a few months ago and has been in Riverside, California, working with Garcia.

“I’ve been seeing the Abner that the world knew three to four years ago, a warrior with tremendous boxing skills, that’s the Abner I see now,” Garcia said. “He’s in tremendous shape, but it’s a different Abner. He’s been a warrior all his life and he will come to fight — he has that mentality — but his jab, his straight punches and footwork are better than what fans have seen in the past two years.”

Mares said: “So far, it’s been great. We’ve been preparing for a real battle. I am excited to see what monster the Mares-Garcia combination has created and gets unleashed. My power and spirit are 1,000 percent.”

RENO CARD

Boxing returns to downtown Reno for the first time since March 1, 2013, as Let’s Get It On Promotions puts on a fight card at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Atlantis Casino Resort with Reno flyweight Oscar Vasquez (9-1, two KOs) facing Javier Lapizco (7-3, two KOs) in the main event scheduled for eight rounds.

Vasquez’s younger brother Santos (1-2), who fights at junior flyweight, will also be on the card. He faces Nestor Hernandez of Seattle (0-1) in an eight-round bout.

Contact Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow on Twitter: @stevecarprj