WBC Super Bantamweight king Abner Mares successfully defended his title against WBA bantamweight titleholder Anselmo Moreno at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Nov. 10 in a thoroughly entertaining bout. The action started as soon as the bell rang to open the first round and continued right until the end of the 12th. The unbeaten Mares raised his record to 25-0-1 with the unanimous decision while Moreno saw his 27-bout winning streak come to an end and lost his first fight in 10 years. His record now stands at 33-2-2 with 14 KOs.
Mares, a highly-effective volume puncher, just kept coming at Moreno and rarely gave his opponent the chance to effectively utilize his boxing skills. The non-stop attack saw Moreno often off balance while backing up. However, he had many fine moments in the bout and landed numerous shots of his own, hurting mares on a couple of occasions.
Moreno found himself on the canvas in the fifth round after an accumulation of blows to the head. He arguably went down from a push, but Mares landed several clean punches before he dropped. It wasn’t the cleanest fight of the year as Mares was warned twice for low blows while Moreno had a point deducted in the 11th round by referee Raul Caiz Jr. for pushing down on Mares’ head.
The only times Mares wasn’t moving forward and pressing the action were the couple of occasions that he appeared to be hurt from body shots from his Panamanian opponent. After the bout Mares said he thought his aggression and power made the difference in the fight, but said Moreno was a super champion who gave him quite a bit of resistance.
While Mares was definitely the bull in this fight, Moreno was the matador, but the two of them stood toe-to-toe on many occasions much to the delight of the fans. The scores of the fight were 116-110, 116-110, and 120-106 all for Mares. With Moreno suffering a point deduction as well as a knockdown the 116-110 scores made sense, but the 120-106 score offered by judge Dr. James Jen Kin was criminal and he should be investigated or suspended for submitting such a ridiculous scorecard.
Moreno said he thought the bout was closer than the scorecards indicated and said he’s not happy with losing every round on Jen Kin’s scorecard. He gave Mares credit by saying he’s very strong and a great champion who fought a great battle. Mares said he’d like to take on Nonito Donaire next as long as the promoters can work out a deal. If they can’t, a rematch with Moreno at some point could be a distinct possibility since it was easily one of the best fights of 2012.
Another possible opponent could be Leo Santa Cruz, who successfully held onto his IBF Bantamweight belt on the undercard with an exciting and impressive ninth-round stoppage over Victor Zaleta.
Ian Palmer
For all of the latest odds on the worlds’ biggest boxing matches visit Bet365
No comments:
Post a Comment