By Dan Ambrose: Negotiations are taking place for a rematch between world champions Abner Mares (29-2-1, 15 KOs) and Jhonny Gonzalez (59-10, 49 KOs) for a fight that would take place in March. This would be a match-up for Mares, 30, to try and avenge his 1st round knockout loss at the hands of Gonzalez 2 ½ years ago in 2013. The two fighters never were able to face each other in a rematch as plans for a second fight were wiped out by injuries in the past.

It’s unclear whether the Gonzalez-Mares rematch will take place because they will need to somehow negotiate the fight and it could prove difficult. However, both fighters aren’t doing so well in terms of their careers.

Gonzalez, 34, has lost 2 out of his last four fights in the last two years in defeats to Jonathan Oquendo and Gary Russell Jr. in 2015. Gonzalez’s defeat to Oquendo took place in the super featherweight division, and that doesn’t figure to be a good division for Gonzalez.

He’s much better off fighting at featherweight than he is against the big punchers at 130 like Nicholas Walters, Takashi Uchiyama, Roman Gonzalez, Orlando Salido and Francisco Vargas. Gonzalez doesn’t match up well against those fighters and he’d likely be knocked out by all of them. Mares has lost 2 out of his last 5 fights. He was beaten in his last fight by Leo Santa Cruz by a 12 round decision last August in a fight for the WBA “super” featherweight title.

Mares is still listed as a featherweight, but it’s clear that he needs to move back down to super bantamweight or even bantamweight. He was a much better fighter in those divisions than he is at featherweight. Mares has had nothing but problems since moving up to featherweight in 2013. If he stays in this weight class, it’s likely he’ll suffer losses to guys like Gary Russell Jr., Vasyl Lomachenko, Lee Selby and Jesus Andres Cuellar. Of that bunch, Cuellar would figure to be the only one that he’d have a chance of beating.

“We’re negotiating to fight Jhonny-Abner. Mares has already said no many times, and wanted the fight at 128 pounds because we know that both find it hard to take the pen, and said no. We asked for 126 pounds and Jhonny was willing to go down to 126 pounds. We are waiting for their response, “said promoter Osvaldo Küchle to ESPN Desportes.

This is pretty much the best thing that Mares and Gonzalez can do with their careers if they can face each other in a rematch. I can’t see them doing much at featherweight or super featherweight. Mares is younger than Gonzalez and potentially able to do a little more with what’s left of his career, but he’s had a lot of hard fights over the years during his 11-year pro career. It’s doubtful that Mares will even find success if he moves down to 122 and 118. He’d likely be weight drained and would struggle against the likes of Scott Quigg, Guillermo Rigondeaux, Carl Frampton, Nonito Donaire, Shinsuke Yamanaka, Jamie McDonnell and Juan Carlos Payano. Gonzalez is obviously in worse shape due to his age and his inability to drop down to the lower weight classes to try and find success.