Abner Mares had to settle for a draw in his comeback fight tonight on the Ruiz vs. Ortiz undercard, with him and Miguel Flores finishing tied on two of the three official scorecards.
Judges scored the fight 95-95 on two scorecards, with the third outscoring Mares 96-94. Bad Left Hook also had it 95-95 on our unofficial card.
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Mares, who hadn’t fought in four years, is 36 years old, was coming off eye surgeries that could easily have ended his career, and was fighting very heavy at 135 pounds, got off to a fast start and for three rounds he looked like he could do the business on his questionable return to action.
But Mares (31-3-2, 15 KOs) just couldn’t keep the pedal to the metal the way he started, and by the fourth his performance had slowed considerably. He also didn’t seem capable of really hurting Flores (25-4-1, 12 KOs), who is a few steps below a world-class fighter, but he had a distinct advantage in being a more natural fighter at this weight.
Don’t forget that Mares’ absolute best years were spent at 118 and 122 pounds, that made the difference here, because when Mares couldn’t take Flores out in those first three rounds, conditioning betrayed him. He had noticed before the fight that he didn’t run in camp, and that may have been the biggest difference here. He just didn’t have the gas tank as the fight went on to hold off Flores long enough for the win.
Now that we’ve gotten past the immediate concern about Mares’ eye, we can say that he looked good in this fight, but honestly, he’s not like someone who has a real advantage if he continues to fight, especially if he continues to be over 126 pounds.
But if he comes out with this one, and it’s not the result he wanted, of course, but it’s not a loss either, then he comes out on his terms, not retired with injury.
Edwin De Los Santos TKO-3 Jose Valenzuela
A big reality check for the 23-year-old Valenzuela, who takes his first L in a frankly pretty demoralizing way. It’s not that he got beat up or even stopped, it’s that he was ripped to shreds by De Los Santos, who arrived on short notice this week, replacing Jezzrel Corrales, who had visa issues.
De Los Santos (15-1, 14 KOs) certainly held the record for a power threat, but here he was not the favorite. Valenzuela (12-1, 8 KOs) saw the speed and power of the 22-year-old De Los Santos in the first round, and it had to be a revelation.
In the second, things got wild as De Los Santos was caught and knocked down, but came back and overwhelmed Valenzuela, also sending him to the canvas. In that knockdown, De Los Santos hit Valenzuela late, deducting a point as well, but he continued to do damage.
In the third, Valenzuela went down again, and then referee Ray Corona followed through on his warning, stopping it as soon as De Los Santos hit Valenzuela with another clean shot, a left hand to the head.
Valenzuela looked horrible defensively here, unable to avoid shots. More than “not taking the punches well,” Valenzuela was taking punches from everything, and he couldn’t do much about it. It’s a great opportunity for his stock as a prospect, obviously, and a nice blow to De Los Santos, whose only loss was an eight-round split decision in January against William Foster III.
