I'll get the judges scorecards out of the way first because they were horrendous. 116-110 x2, wide but understandable seeing as Mares was the huge fan favourite, but then 120-106, which in my opinion is the worst scorecard I have ever seen. There is no way anybody can say that Moreno didn't win a round in that fight. I actually had it scored 114-113 to Mares, and looking through Twitter a lot of people only had one or two points in it too. Moreno also had a controversial knockdown and point deduction scored against him which made the fight even tougher to score.
But forgetting about the scorecards, the rightful winner was announced. Mares just didn't give Moreno any chance to settle. It was a fantastic game plan from the young man and he proved that he can compete with the best.
A lot of people expected a slow start from Mares but it was actually Moreno who was playing catch up in the second half of the fight. There was a controversial knockdown scored against Moreno in the fifth round which meant that "Chemito" had an even bigger gap to close.
The 27-year old did manage to claw his way back into it in the third quarter of the fight. His slick defence and technical skill was proving to be too much for Mares at points. But unfortunately this didn't last as long as he hoped as Mares refused to stop pressuring and eventually started to get through once again. Moreno was then deducted a point in the 11th round which cost him the fight on most people's scorecards.
The last round was pretty evenly matched. Moreno probably just nicked it but he wasn't fighting like a man who was desperate to win. It was almost like he knew that he wasn't going to get the decision.
So where do the two fighters go next?
Well... Mares is still the champion, and truly deserved champion after this performance, so the logical fight is a unification bout with pound-for-pound contender and super-bantamweight No.1 Nonito Donaire. A lot of people are talking about a showdown with bantamweight world champ Leo Santa Cruz but like Mares said in the post-fight interview; "what's the point of taking a step back?" He's proved himself like everyone has asked him to and its now time for him to fight the very best, because he is ready for the very best.
Moreno on the other hand should take a step back. His career isn't over, he's still a top level fighter but he is more suited to the bantamweight division. Moreno Vs Santa Cruz is a pretty decent fight and it would give us an idea of where both fighters are. Personally, I think Moreno would win that fight but Santa Cruz was impressive in his fight tonight and will believe that he stands a huge chance if this fight happens.
The super-bantamweight division is really heating up right now. There's a lot of great potential match-ups for us to hope for and its just making the boxing world stronger and stronger.
By Jack Price @PriceyJ97. - priceyboxing@gmail.com
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