Abner Mares vacates title and steps up to featherweight!

By Jack Price @PriceyJ97. 

Has Abner made the right decision?

I have to be honest, I was slightly disappointed when I saw someone share this news on Twitter. Mainly because it means that another super-fight is going to be passed by in Nonito Donaire Vs Abner Mares, but also because I do genuinely believe it is too early for Mares.

If you haven't heard already, highly-rated Mexican Abner Mares has chose to vacate his WBC super-bantamweight world title and is stepping up in weight to fight at featherweight. Mares has stated on many occasions that he was only sticking around at 122lb if a fight with the division's No.1 and pound-for-pound contender Nonito Donaire was made. And with Donaire Vs Rigondeaux looking likely for April, I guess he just got fed up of waiting and decided to finally take the step up. I say "finally" but I do think this is way too early for 'Lil Abner.'

With only two fights at super-bantamweight against extremely talented, but smaller guys (Anselmo Moreno and Eric Morel), there's still a lot for him to do at the weight. A fight with either Rigondeaux or Donaire would have came at one point and there's other fighters there that may not be as talented, but still have big names. Fights with Wilfredo Vazquez Jr, Scott Quigg, Carl Frampton and even Leo Santa Cruz would all have been mouth-watering match-ups and big paydays for the 27-year old.

The other problem is his size. At only 5"4 he is going to find himself coming up against a lot taller and physically bigger guys. I know he's got a lot of strength but does he have enough to out-muscle and grind out victories against top-class featherweights such as Mikey Garcia, Chris John and Daniel Ponce De Leon? That's a question that currently has no answer, but I'm sure it will do soon. Because we know with a guy like Abner Mares he will be straight in there with the elite guys in the division and looking to win even more titles.

Is this a wise move from the young superstar or is it a risk that just isn't worth taking at this current time? Can the two-weight world champion make it three out of three weight divisions at featherweight?

Canelo getting paid almost 10 times more than Lopez...

Lopez (left) & Alvarez (right) face-to-face at public press conference.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission have announced that WBC world light-middleweight champion Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez will receive $2,000,000 for his fight on September 15th. His opponent Josesito Lopez will receive only $212,500 when the two meet at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Now, I'm not saying that it's unfair that Alvarez is receiving more than Lopez, as he is obviously the much bigger star, but considering Marcos Maidana is just an undercard fighter and he is receiving $250,000, I think Lopez deserves a little more than what he is getting.

As this show will be going head-to-head with the fantastic show put on by Top Rank (Julio Cesat Chavez Jr Vs Sergio Martinez), Golden Boy have jam-packed the show with a top class undercard that has cost them a lot in purse bids.

Below is what the undercard fighters will be receiving:

Jhonny Gonzalez ($40,000) Vs Daniel Ponce De Leon ($100,000).

Marcos Maidana ($250,000) Vs Jesus Soto Karrass ($80,000)

Leo Santa Cruz ($85,000) Vs Eric Morel ($35,000).

 

By Jack Price (@PriceyJ97)

Abner Mares returns on August 25th...

According to reports, WBC super-bantamweight champ Abner Mares will return to the ring on August 25th in Puebla. The most likely opponent at the moment is Christian Esquivel (25-3, 18 KO's).

This is a decent fight for Mares as Esquivel is a man that will come to fight and come to win, and he's not that bad either. He's not the toughest opponent that Mares (24-0-1, 13 KO's) will ever face on his journey to the top but it will do good in showing us if Mares really is something special. However, there is one little negative surrounding this fight. Mares is a super-bantamweight and this is the second bout in a row that he has chosen to face a man who usually boxes at bantamweight. The Mexican has been criticised on occasions for not facing a top contender at 122lb (super-bantamweight). But that's the only bad thing I can think of about this fight.

It will be a good little scrap and it will definitely be more closely contested than Mares' most recent fight against Eric Morel, where the 26-year old widely outpointed the much older man.

The viewing of this clash on the night of August 25th could be a little less than usual. This fight will be shown on Showtime and on the same night, HBO will be showing a much more popular and 'high-key' fight in Dmirty Pirog Vs Gennady Golovkin for the world middleweight title. If it does not go head-to-head with this fight then I'm sure a lot of people will be watching it.