Abner Mares Martínez (born November 28, 1985) is a Mexican-American

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

who also works as a boxing analyst and commentator for

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

. He has held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the

IBF The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class is derived from Ba ...

title from 2011 to 2012, the WBC

super bantamweight Super bantamweight, also known as junior featherweight, is a weight class in professional boxing, contested from and up to . There were attempts by boxing promoters in the 1920s to establish this weight class, but few sanctioning organizations or ...

title from 2012 to 2013, the WBC

featherweight Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Boxing Professional boxing History A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, this ...

title in 2013, and the

WBA (Regular) The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is the oldest and one of four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxi ...

featherweight title from 2016 to 2018. As an

amateur boxer Amateur boxing is a variant of boxing practiced at the collegiate level, at the Olympic Games, Pan American Games and Commonwealth Games, as well as many associations. Amateur boxing bouts are short in duration, comprising three rounds of three ...

, Mares won numerous medals at international tournaments while representing Mexico. He grew up in the city of

Hawaiian Gardens, California Hawaiian Gardens is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the smallest city in the county in area (approximately 1.0 mi2) and was incorporated on April 9, 1964. The population was 14,254 at the 2010 census, down fro ...

and holds

dual citizenship Multiple/dual citizenship (or multiple/dual nationality) is a legal status in which a person is concurrently regarded as a national or citizen of more than one country under the laws of those countries. Conceptually, citizenship is focused on ...

with Mexico and the United States.HugeDomains.com - AbnerMares.com is for Sale (Abner Mares)
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Early life

Mares was born in

Guadalajara, Jalisco Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Mexico, while the Guadalaj ...

, Mexico and at age seven his family moved to the city of

. At age fifteen he was sent back to Mexico by his father.

Amateur career

As an amateur, Mares compiled a record of 112-8 with 84 KOs. Mares won the U17 World Championships and the

gold medal at the Central American games 2002 beating Juan Manuel López and the silver medal in the same division in 2003 at the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 (Distrito Nacional) , websi ...

. At the Junior World Championships 2004, he finished second losing to Aibek Abdimomunov. He participated in the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

for his native country. There he was beaten in the first round of the Bantamweight (54 kg) division by Hungary's

Zsolt Bedák Zsolt Bedák (born 26 September 1983 in Budapest, Hungary) is a Hungarian boxer. His younger brother Pál Bedák is a flyweight boxer. Amateur career *2001 Bedák won bronze at the European Junior Championships. *Member of the Hungarian Ol ...

in a highly controversial decision.

Amateur highlights

*Represented Mexico at the 2004 Olympics in Athens as a Bantamweight, losing in the opening round to

Zsolt Bedak Zsolt () is a Hungarian masculine given name, originally a variant of ''Solt''. Related names * Zsolt: old Hungarian personal name, with an identical origin to the names ''Zoltán'', ''Zsolt'' and possibly ''Csolt''. Derived from the old Turkish w ...

of Hungary on points 27-24 *Silver medalist at the 2004 World Junior Championships *Silver medalist at the 2003 Pan American Games, losing to

Guillermo Rigondeaux Guillermo Rigondeaux Ortiz (; born 30 September 1980) is a Cuban professional boxer. He is a former world champion in two weight classes, having held the unified WBA (Super), WBO and ''Ring'' magazine super bantamweight titles between 2013 and ...

, with a score of 17 - 7. *Gold medalist at the 2002 Central American & Caribbean Games *Gold medalist at the 2002 World Cadet Championships

Professional career

In January 2005, Mares won his professional debut against Puerto Rican Luis Malave.

Bantamweight

On September 7, 2007, he won the WBO NABA

Bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class is derived from Ba ...

Championship by defeating former WBO Champion Isidro García. Mares won his next three bouts before suffering an eye injury which required him to undergo surgery. He returned to the ring 10 months later by stopping Jonathan Perez. He had been trained as a professional by Hall of Famer Ignacio Beristáin, however, the two split after Mares changed promotional companies.

Mares vs. Perez

On May 22, 2010, Mares challenged undefeated

Champion and the No. 4 ranked Bantamweight Yonnhy Perez (20-0) for his title. The bout ended in a 12-round majority draw with one judge scoring it 115-113 in favor of Mares while the other two scored it 114-114 even. The majority of the press at ringside scored the bout in favor of Mares. This marked the launch and the climb to success with world-famous trainer, Clemente Medina.

Bantamweight Tournament

= Mares vs. Darchinyan

= Golden Boy Promotions announced that Mares would be taking part in Showtime's four-man single elimination bantamweight tournament, which would also include

Vic Darchinyan Vakhtang "Vic" Darchinyan ( hy, Վախթանգ Դարչինյան; born 7 January 1976) is an Armenian former professional boxer who competed from 2000 to 2017. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the IBF flyw ...

, Joseph Agbeko and Yonnhy Perez. In the first round of the tournament, Mares faced IBO

Champion Vic Darchinyan and defeated him by a highly controversial 12 round split decision to claim the IBO Championship title and WBC Silver title.

= Mares vs. Agbeko I

= Mares was scheduled to face IBF Champion and No. 3 ranked Joseph Agbeko in the final round of the tournament on April 23, 2011. However, Agbeko pulled out of the fight just days prior citing an injury. The match was rescheduled for August 13, 2011. Mares fought Agbeko on August 13 on Showtime and won the title and the tournament by majority decision. However, the match was not without controversy, as Mares delivered numerous low blows during the match, with referee Russell Mora not penalizing him with point deductions for any of the blows throughout the match. The most infamous of these blows came during the 11th round of the fight, in which a low blow from Mares landed on Agbeko's cup, causing Agbeko to drop. While the low blow was clearly visible to everyone, referee Mora ruled it as a knockdown.

Mares vs. Agbeko II

On December 3, 2011, Mares and Agbeko fought a rematch due to their controversial first fight. While the second fight proved to be much less controversial, there were still several low blow warnings from the referee to Mares. Though Agbeko had moments in the fight where he outboxed Mares from the outside, Mares closed the distance and outworked Agbeko throughout the fight, and landed the more significant punches. Mares was awarded a unanimous decision win, by the scores of 118-110 from all three judges. .

Super Bantamweight

Super Bantamweight title

In Mares' next fight, he moved up to the

division, fighting former world champion

Eric Morel Eric Arturo Morel (born October 10, 1975 in San Juan, Puerto Rico) is a Puerto Rican professional boxer. He is a former World Boxing Association (WBA) flyweight (112 lb) champion. Amateur career Morel had an outstanding amateur career, and w ...

for the vacant WBC Super Bantamweight title. The fight took place on April 21, 2012, at a catchweight of 120 lbs. Mares effectively out worked, landed more, and landed the harder punches throughout the fight, with Morel showing significant signs of his age. Mares won a unanimous decision by the scores of 120-107, 119-109, and 119-109 to claim his first Super Bantamweight title.

Mares vs. Moreno

Mares' next fight took place on November 10, 2012, against the world No. 1 ranked bantamweight and then No.10 pound-for-pound

Anselmo Moreno Anselmo Moreno (born 28 June 1985) is a Panamanian professional boxer. He held the WBA bantamweight title from 2008 to 2014 (promoted to super champion status in 2011), making him the longest reigning bantamweight world champion of all time, ...

. Mares started the fight off fast, applying relentless pressure on Moreno, forcing Moreno to the ropes for the majority of the early rounds. Moreno still had his moments while the two were in the middle of the ring, landing clean shots, while Mares attempted to out work Moreno and attack his body while on the ropes. In the 5th round, Moreno was having success staying off the ropes when he could, and out boxing Mares in the center of the ring. Near the end of the round, Mares trapped Moreno on the ropes and landed a hard straight right hand, which ultimately sent Moreno to the canvas for the first time in his career. The following middle rounds of the fight, Mares seemed in control working the body and landing his hard overhand right, relentless pressuring Moreno for the majority of the rounds. In the 11th round, Moreno was docked a point for pushing Mares' head down while Mares rushed him on the ropes. This was seen as very controversial, given that Mares and Moreno both had been warned several times throughout the fight and only Moreno was docked a point. After the point deduction, Moreno effectively out pointed Mares in the middle of the ring during the final rounds and even successfully traded with Mares against the ropes, while Mares seemed to tire the final couple rounds. Mares was awarded the Unanimous decision by the scores of 116-110, 116-110, and 120-106.

Featherweight

Mares vs. De Leon

Mares moved up to 126 lbs to fight WBC Featherweight champion and ''Ring'' No. 2 ranked Featherweight,

Daniel Ponce de León Daniel Ponce de León (born July 27, 1980) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2014. He was a world champion two weight classes, having held the WBO super bantamweight title from 2005 and 2008, and the WBC featherw ...

in the Mayweather-Guerrero undercard on May 4, 2013, and knocked down de León in the second and ninth rounds en route to handing him a TKO loss at 2:20 of the ninth round, winning the WBC featherweight title in the process.

Mares vs. González

Mares defended his WBC Featherweight title against underdog former world champion

Jhonny González Jhonny González Vera (born September 15, 1981) is a Mexican professional boxer.. Retrieved 26 September 2016. He is a three-time former world champion in two weight classes, having held the World Boxing Organization, WBO bantamweight title f ...

on August 24, 2013, at the

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. Mares lost the fight in a first-round TKO to González. The referee stopped the fight after Mares was knocked down for the second time in the first round. Mares would leave his management company, Espinoza Boxing Club, as well as trainer Clemente Medina. He would train with Virgil Hunter for his next fight before returning to Clemente Medina.

Mares vs Cuellar

On December 10, 2016, Mares fought Jesus Cuellar for the WBA "regular" featherweight title. Mares won tia fight via split-decision, with two of the judges scoring the fight in his favor, 117-110 and 116-111 while the third judge saw Cuellar as the winner, scoring it 115-112 in favor of the Argentine.

Mares vs Gutierrez

In his next fight, Mares fought Andres Gutierrez. Mares retained his title be winning the fight via technical decision in the tenth round.

Mares vs Santa Cruz

On June 9, 2018, Mares fought WBA super featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz in a long-anticipated rematch. In a brutal and exciting fight, both fighters were throwing and connecting at a similar rate. All three judges agreed on who is the winner of the fight, with all three scoring it in favor Santa Cruz, 117-111, 116-112 and 115-113.

Professional boxing record

References

Video references

External links

*
2002 cadetsAbner Mares - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings
a
Box.Live
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mares, Abner 1985 births Living people Mexican male boxers Boxers from Jalisco World bantamweight boxing champions World super-bantamweight boxing champions World featherweight boxing champions Boxers at the 2003 Pan American Games Boxers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers of Mexico Sportspeople from Guadalajara, Jalisco Pan American Games silver medalists for Mexico World Boxing Council champions International Boxing Federation champions World Boxing Association champions Pan American Games medalists in boxing Central American and Caribbean Games gold medalists for Mexico Competitors at the 2002 Central American and Caribbean Games Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in boxing Medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games