(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) By Jim Dower: Former three division world champion Abner Mares (27-1-1, 14 KO’s) defeated the bigger and stronger Jonathan Oquendo (24-4, 16 KO’s) by a 10 round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The final judges’ scores were 96-94, 98-92, 98-92.
Mares dominated the action with his quicker combinations after having a rough first three rounds. In the 4th round, mares suffered a cut over his left eye from what appeared to be a head-butt. Mares’ new trainer Virgil Hunter had Mares focus on his boxing in the last 6 rounds of the fight to minimize the amount of punishment that he absorbed, and it worked well for Mares.
By DA: Well, boxing family we’re roughly 2 weeks away from seeing the most anticipated boxing card of this year so far, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (43-1-1, 31 KO’s) vs Erislandy Lara (19-1-2, 12 KO’s) on July 12th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. I’ve been seeing some great debates on how Lara will or how Canelo will win, and it just makes me wish the fight was tomorrow.
By Dan Ambrose: #4 WBO super featherweight contender Juan Manuel Lopez (34-3, 31 KO’s) will be fighting #2 Francisco Vargas (19-0-1, 13 KO’s) in a WBO 130lb title eliminator bout on July 12th on the undercard of the Erislandy Lara vs. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez card at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The winner of the Lopez-Vargas fight will become the mandatory challenger for WBO super featherweight champion Mikey Garcia.
By Dan Ambrose: Daniel Ponce De Leon (45-6, 35 KO’s) wants a rematch against Juan Manuel Lopez (34-3, 31 KO’s) because he feels his fight against Lopez last Saturday night was stopped prematurely by referee Luis Pabon at 2:44 of the 2nd round in their fight at the Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez, Bayamon, Puerto Rico . The fight was halted with De Leon still on his feet after having been knocked down twice in the 2nd round. Lopez threw a 10-punch flurry, but only 2 of the punches out of the flurry actually landed and neither of them were hard shots.
(Photo credit: Tom Casino/Showtime) By Dan Ambrose: WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia (28-0, 16 KO’s) defeated challenger Mauricio Herrera (20-4, 7 KO’s) by a 12 round majority decision on Saturday night at the Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez, in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. The final judges scores were 114-114, 116-112, 116-112.