By: Sean Crose
Three-time champion Abner Mares returned to the ring at age 36 on Sunday at the Crypto.com Center in Los Angeles. His opponent in the scheduled 10-round junior lightweight bout was Miguel Flores (25-4). Mares, who hadn’t fought in four years, looked terrific early on, dominating his man in the early rounds while displaying a finely tuned skill set.
Flores, however, began to pick up steam in the middle rounds, which no doubt helped him on the scorecards. Although it still looked good, the ring’s age and oxidation seemed to be having an impact on Mares. In fact, heading into the later rounds, Mares kept his distance from his opponent as much as possible, throwing and landing well when the opportunity presented itself. Flores was clearly the more aggressive of the two.
In the tenth and final round, an exhausted Mares was rocked several times. If it was a twelve round battle, he might not have been able to stay on his feet. However, this was ten more rounds, and Mares had built an early lead. It would be interesting to see who the judges gave the go-ahead.
Ultimately, the nod went to either man as the fight was ruled a majority draw.
