Abner Mares

Abner Mares
Abner Mares (2010)
Data
Birth Name	Abner Mares Martínez
Weight class	Super bantamweight
nationality	Mexican
birthday	November 28, 1985
place of birth	Guadalajara
style	Left delivery
size	1.64 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	35
Victories	31
Knockout victories	15th
Defeats	3
draw	1

Abner Mares Martínez (born November 28, 1985 in Guadalajara ) is a Mexican professional boxer, former IBF world champion in bantamweight and former WBC world champion in super bantamweight, as well as former WBC world champion in featherweight and current WBA world champion in featherweight.

Amateur career

Abner Mares started boxing at the age of seven and began his amateur boxing career in the bantamweight division. In 2002 he won the gold medal at the 2nd World Cadet Championships in Hungary , defeating Aschat Shakipbekow from Kazakhstan in the final. In December of the same year, he also won the 19th Central American and Caribbean Games in El Salvador . He had prevailed against Jonathan Batista from the Dominican Republic, Juan López from Puerto Rico and Yonnhy Pérez from Colombia.

In August 2003 he won the silver medal at the Pan American Games in the Dominican Republic , where he again wins against Juan López and Yonnhy Pérez. It was only in the final that he was defeated by Guillermo Rigondeaux from Cuba. In June 2004 he won the silver medal at the 13th Junior World Championships in South Korea . He had beaten Jonathan Ruiz from Spain, Zsolt Hodosi from Hungary, Turbat Enschtalwan from Mongolia and Elschan Ismailow from Azerbaijan before losing to Aibek Abdimomunow from Kyrgyzstan.

In August 2004 he took part in the 28th Summer Olympics in Athens , where he lost the first fight against Zsolt Bedák from Hungary (27:36). He ended his amateur career with 112 wins in 120 fights, 84 of them prematurely.

Further tournament results (selection)

• July 2001: 1st place at the 6th Junior Olympic International Tournament in the USA , victory against Sergio Méndez from Mexico and Daniel Herdman from England
• August 2002: 1st place at the 4th Jose Cheo Aponte Tournament in Puerto Rico , victory against Tyson Cave from Canada, Jonathan Vidal from Puerto Rico and Juan López from Puerto Rico
• June 2003: 3rd place in bantamweight at the 24th Acropolis Cup in Greece , victory against Madi Scholakow from Kazakhstan, semi-final defeat against Afanassi Poskachin from Russia

Professional career

He started his professional career in the United States in 2005, his promoter is Golden Boy Promotions from Óscar de la Hoya . His trainer is Ignacio Beristain , who was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2011. He won his pro debut on January 6, 2005 at the Desert Diamond Casino in Tucson , Arizona, through tKo in the second round against Luis Malave from Puerto Rico (record: 8 wins - 5 losses). By mid-2007 he won 13 fights in a row, 8 of them prematurely. In addition to a number of build-up opponents such as Omar Adorno (14-5), Wilmer Rodriguez (8-0) and Robert Allanic (16-2), he also managed an early win against Angel Antonio Priolo (30-5) from Colombia, a former Latin American - and North American champion who had already boxed for the interim WBC World Cup.

On September 7, 2007 he was allowed to box for the North American Championship ( NABO ) of the WBO bantamweight association and won the title against Isidro García (24-3) prematurely, as he gave up the fight after the sixth round. Then he defended the title unanimously on points against Damian Marchiano (14-2) and by tKo in the second round against Diosdado Gabi (30-3). The NABO title was ultimately withdrawn from him because he did not compete against other challengers of the association, but was preparing for a world championship fight. He also beat Jonathan "Diamante" Arias (15-1), Jonathan "El Explosivo" Pérez (14-5), the Dominican Carlos Fulgencio (11-2) and the Colombian Felipe Almanza (17-15).

On May 22, 2010, he finally boxed in Los Angeles for the IBF World Championship against Yonnhy Pérez (20-0), whom he had already beaten in amateur matches . The fight was counted as a draw after the full twelve rounds (once 115: 113 for Mares, twice 114: 114), whereby Pérez remained the title holder. In return, Mares won the IBO world title and the WBC silver bantamweight title in his next fight on December 11, 2010 in Tacoma , Washington . He defeated the Armenian Wachtang Dartschinjan (35-2) with 2: 1 judges' votes on points (113: 112, 115: 111 and 111: 115). The fight was quite even, both boxers suffered a knockdown in the course of the fight.

In the meantime, Yonnhy Pérez had lost his IBF title to Joseph Agbeko (28-2), who defended his title against Abner Mares on August 13, 2011 in Las Vegas . Mares already had the title holder on the ground in the first lap and was able to achieve another knockdown in the eleventh, before he was declared the point winner after the twelve laps (113: 113, twice 115: 111). In the rematch on December 3, 2011 in Anaheim , California, Mares finally won unanimously on points (three times 118: 110) and shortly thereafter switched to super bantamweight.

There he boxed on April 21, 2012 in El Paso , Texas, for the WBC World Championship against the Puerto Rican Eric Morel (46-2), who was ranked 5th in the world by Ring Magazine . Mares, who was led as a 13: 1 outsider, won the fight unanimously on points (120: 107, twice 119: 109). In his first title defense on November 10, 2012 in Los Angeles, he boxed against Anselmo Moreno from Panama (33-1), who had also switched to superbantam after ten defenses of his WBA World Championships in bantamweight. Mares won the fight unanimously on points and also had his opponent down in the fifth round.

Mares put down the world title in early 2013 to move up to featherweight. There he defeated Daniel Ponce de León (44-4) on May 4, 2013 by tKo in the ninth round and thus won the WBC World Championship.

On August 24, 2013 he lost by knockout in the first round against Jhonny González (54-8). In July 2014 he defeated Jonathan Oquendo (24-3) unanimously on points. In December 2014 an early win against Jose Ramirez (25-4) followed.

In August 2015 he lost on points to Léo Santa Cruz (30-0). In December 2016 he defeated Jesús Cuellar (28-1) in the fight for the WBA world title. In October 2017 he won a title defense against Andrés Gutiérrez (35-1). In June 2018 he lost a rematch against Léo Santa Cruz.

predecessor	Office	successor
Joseph Agbeko	Bantamweight Boxing Champion ( IBF ) August 13, 2011 - February 2012	Léo Santa Cruz

predecessor	Office	successor
Toshiaki Nishioka	World Superbantamweight Boxing Champion ( WBC ) April 21, 2012 - January 2013	Víctor Terrazas

predecessor	Office	successor
Daniel Ponce de León	Featherweight Boxing Champion ( WBC ) May 4, 2013 - August 25, 2013	Jhonny González

predecessor	Office	successor
Jesús Cuellar	Featherweight Boxing Champion ( WBA ) December 10, 2016 -

Web links

• Abner Mares at BoxRec