By Dan Ambrose: IBF bantamweight champion Abner Mares (23-0-1, 13 KO’s) has decided to vacate his International Boxing Federation title in order to go after a fight against 36-year-old former WBA flyweight champion Eric Morel (46-2, 23 KOs) on April 21st in a fight that will likely take place in Mexico City, Mexico.

Mares, 26, wants to move up to super bantamweight to go after bigger fights against the likes of Guillermo Rigondeaux, Nonito Donaire and Toshiaki Nishioka. The bantamweight division has been pretty much cleared out by Mares with the exception of Anselmo Moreno, the WBA champion.

Golden Boy didn’t seem interested in putting Mares in against the defensive counter punching wizard Moreno due to the high chances of Mares getting beaten and the lack of money or interest in that fight.

Aside from the fact that Morel fights for Golden Boy, I can’t see any point in Mares fighting him. Morel doesn’t have a large fan base and he’s pretty much zero with his career since losing his WBA World flyweight title to Lorenzo Parra in December 2003.

Morel did come back and briefly capture the interim World Boxing Organization bantamweight title in a very questionable 12 round decision win over Gerry Penalosa in February 2010. Morel, #4 WBA, # 8 WBC, is still a decent fighter but hardly the opponent needed to make a big fight.

The Mares-Morel fight will be televised by SHOWTIME on April 21st.
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer told RingTV “Yes, Mares has vacated the title. We will do Mares vs. Morel in a classic Mexico vs. Puerto Rico showdown on April 21 on Showtime.”

It seems like a waste. Mares would be better off fighting Vic Darchinyan again to prove he can beat him without throwing low blows. Mares barely beat Darchinyan by a 12 round split decision in March 2010 in Showtime’s four-fighter bantamweight tournament.

In that fight, Mares was teeing off on Darchinyan with text-book low blows all night long. It was scary to see all that shots below the borders that Mares landed in that fight. Take away the low blows and I think Darchinyan would have won it.

That would be a lot more interesting fight than watching Mares beat up on an old ex-champion like Morel, who is nine years removed from the last time he was a world champion. If not Darchinyan, I’d prefer to see Mares fight Yonnhy Perez, Koki Komeda, Hugo Perez, Moreno or better yet just move up in weight and go after the top fighters at super bantamweight.

Golden Boy obviously likes the idea of Mares fighting Morel because it’s an in house fight for them. Mares can give Morel some badly needed publicity and a nice payday in beating him on April 21st. I hate the fight and think it’s a stinker.