Abner Mares

Abner Mares Martínez (born November 28, 1985) is a Mexican-American professional boxer who also works as a boxing analyst and commentator for Showtime.

Mares won the U17 World Championships and the bantamweight 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 in Santo Domingo.

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

He participated in the 2004 Summer Olympics for his native country and was defeated in the first round of the Bantamweight (54 kg) division by Hungary's Zsolt Bedák in a highly controversial decision.

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

On September 7, 2007, he won the WBO NABA Bantamweight 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.

On May 22, 2010, Mares challenged undefeated IBF Bantamweight 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.

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, Joseph Agbeko and Yonnhy Perez.

In the first round of the tournament, Mares faced IBO Bantamweight Champion Vic Darchinyan and defeated him by a highly controversial 12 round split decision to claim the IBO Championship title and WBC Silver title.

He has held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the IBF bantamweight title from 2011 to 2012, the WBC super bantamweight title from 2012 to 2013, the WBC featherweight title in 2013, and the WBA (Regular) featherweight title from 2016 to 2018.

As an amateur boxer, Mares won numerous medals at international tournaments while representing Mexico.

He grew up in the city of Hawaiian Gardens, California and holds dual citizenship with Mexico and the United States.

Mares was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico and at age seven his family moved to the city of Hawaiian Gardens, California.

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

As an amateur, Mares compiled a record of 112–8 with 84 KOs.

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.

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.

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In Mares' next fight, he moved up to the super bantamweight division, fighting former world champion Eric Morel 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' next fight took place on November 10, 2012, against the world No. 1 ranked bantamweight and then No.10 pound-for-pound Anselmo Moreno.

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.