Cliff Rold

Experience matters.

Abner Mares drew on a well of as much of it as almost any current fighter.

Dating back to his run at 118 lbs., Mares has never been shy about taking on tough outs. He won Showtime’s bantamweight tournament. At 122, he took on an Anselmo Moreno many might have avoided. He got past a shocking knockout loss to Jhonny Gonzalez, giving Leo Santa Cruz a hell of a fight last year.

Now he’s back in the winner’s circle in a fight that mattered. There were times in the first half against big swinging Jesus Cuellar when Mares looked like he might get physically overwhelmed. Instead, he dug deep and boxed as well as he has in years.

All those rounds, all that willingness to fight real fights, served him when he needed it most.

Let’s go the report card.

Grades

Pre-Fight: Speed – Cuellar B; Mares B+/Post: Same

Pre-Fight: Power – Cuellar B+; Mares B/Post: B; B

Pre-Fight: Defense – Cuellar C+; Mares B-/Post: C+; B

Pre-Fight: Intangibles – Cuellar B+; Mares B+/Post: B+; A

Cuellar waited for his shot at a fight like last Saturday’s longer than he should have. He put up with the machinations of the WBA who went around him to name the Santa Cruz-Mares their ‘super’ titlist last year. All he had to do was win. 

Mares wouldn’t let him.

Over the course of twelve rounds, it wasn’t just the experience Mares has gained. Lots of guys have faced tough foes but aren’t good enough to make it work for them. Mares, a former Olympian, was because he could use that experience in companion with plenty of boxing skill.

Mares used his edge in hand speed to turn the fight in his favor. Cuellar’s attack became predictable as the fight wore on. He was going to come forward and launch his southpaw left. Mares used a combination of counter punching, footwork, clinching, and quick combinations, to keep Cuellar off balance.

That didn’t make it easy. The fight was full of close rounds. Scores among members of the press varied from round to round. There was a case for an even fight going into the final two rounds. Mares stamped himself the victor with the fight in the balance. He dropped Cuellar in the eleventh and then let loose a fight demanding assault. In the final round, with Cuellar trying to dig out of the hole, Mares stayed a step ahead. 

He kept his foot on the gas and closed the show like the veteran he is. It was the sort of win that both reframes and reminds. It reframed the narrative of a once top fighter with a foot in the fistic grave. It reminded us just how much Mares has done in his career.

It hasn’t always been pretty. Mares hasn’t always won without argument.

But he fights the fights.

The biggest names he’s missed to date in his run from 118-126 are Nonito Donaire and Guillermo Rigondeuax. The latter will probably stay missed. The former could always still happen, the sort of fight that doesn’t really have a sell by date. Mares also put himself in line as a mandatory for the winner of Frampton-Santa Cruz II and shares management ties with Gary Russell Jr.

All of these are fights anyone would be happy to watch. Mares will be there for at least one of them in 2017.

For Cuellar, it’s a hurtful loss but not an ending one. Mares showed him to be less fearsome than knockouts of a faded Vic Darchinyan and Joan Manuel Lopez made him out to be. Cuellar is tough, beatable, and fun television. Even in defeat, he may have given himself more opportunity going forward.

It just won’t be as much opportunity as Mares gave himself. 

Report Card and Staff Picks 2016: 44-15

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel, the Yahoo Pound for Pound voting panel, and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com