Can Abner Mares compete with Rigondeaux and Chris John?

By Boxing News - 06/15/2013 - Comments

mares56By Gerardo Granados: The newly crowned WBC featherweight champion Abner Mares (W26-L0-Dl) is only 27 years old and already has conquered world titles in three different weight divisions. The young lion has defeated good opposition to achieve it, but what kind of potential does he have?

The 5´4 1/2” height and 66” reach young lion is the third youngest Mexican fighter to achieve three divisional world titles behind Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. and Erik Morales.

“Terrible” is a future hall of fame member but he never reached the heights of Julio Cesar even though that he did had a special charisma and a big fan base.

Did the reader know Abner is a three division champion or at least keeps track of his upcoming fights? He has defeated former champions Isidro Garcia, Vic Darchinyan, Joseph Agbeko, Erik Morel, Anselmo Moreno and Daniel Ponce De leon. He has held the IBF – IBO bantamweight, WBC super bantamweight and currently WBC featherweight belt. But has he been properly promoted? A friend of mine has no idea of who Abner Mares is and also didnt knew his current fighting weight.

Many Mexican fighters are considered as brawlers or pressure fighters but there must be exceptions to that rule and Mares can be one. Nowadays Juan Manuel “Dinamita” Marquez, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Miguel “Titere” Vazquez are good examples and in the past the reader can´t argue that Ricardo “Finito” Lopez is the clearest exception to the traditional view of Mexican fighters. Abner is a boxer puncher, has good movement, footwork, defense and speed, has great power and still has room for improvement.

At the featherweight division there are enough talented fighters but can Mares make it to the top and build a solid fan base? If he is able to do so then he could end up as the succesor of Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. but if he is not able then he might end up having a similar boxing career as the one that Juan Manuel Marquez has had being left behind Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera until both aged.

Maybe Abner has the boxing skills but does he have that special charisma to lead a major boxing event? Ricardo “Finito” Lopez (W51(38)-L0-D1) former WBC – WBA – WBO minimumweight and IBF light flyweight champion retired undefeated after 17 years as a prizefighter with a world title fight record of W25(19)-L0-D1, but the awful truth is that the casual boxing fans could have a hard time trying to remember the name and achievements of these exquisite boxer.

Who should Mares fight next to get noticed by boxing fans? Undoubtedly he should challenge the big names at the featherweight division instead of talking of moving back to super bantam to engage Guillermo Rigondeaux who has a really small fan base. Chris John could be a good prey but it is very improbable that John would take the risk to fight at Las Vegas once again even less to fight against a dangerous young lion.

Abner Mares is a good talented boxer, he has defeated good oposition and achieved world titles in three weight divisions; but to the date he has not being able to build a big fan base. I´ll be surprised if the reader knows Mares boxing alias. So, which is his real potential as a future boxing star?



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