Abner Mares Victorious In Anaheim

By Hans Olson

Only a few months removed from their first controversial bout back in August; Abner Mares put to rest any doubt who was the best 118 lb. fighter in the world, beating the rough and tumble Ghanaian Joseph Agbeko over 12 decisive rounds of action.

Photos: Tom Casino/Showtime

In the opening round, Agbeko was frustrated by Mares and his counter punching ability. Both fighters going to the body, Mares was the one who was more effective (although Mares was warned for kidney shots early). As the early rounds progressed, Agbeko was consistently off balance from hard shots landed by the proud Mexican-American. Mares was cut in the 2nd, which was correctly ruled from a punch. Over the next few rounds, Mares boxed beautifully, in and out, working the body and going upstairs with success. In the 11th Mares led with his jab and kept safe distance, and was effective in close quarters when they engaged. Mares fought valiantly…and did enough to win most rounds. In the end, Mares would walk away with the unanimous decision…all 3 judges scoring it 118-110. Boxing Insider had the fight 118-111.

In a wild, entertaining contest of that was the very definition of bull versus matador, Anselmo Moreno (32-1-1) defeated Vic Darchinyan (37-4-1) in a 12 round decision to retain his WBA Bantamweight Championship. Darchinyan imposed himself on Moreno early on, bum rushing the defending champ, but as the fight wore on, Moreno used his counter punching and boxing ability to score against the Armenian/Australian. Official ringside scores read 116-111, 117-110, 120-107, all in favor of Moreno. Boxing Insider had it considerably closer, 115-114 for Moreno.

In earlier action, Richard Contreras defeated Juan Sandoval with a 4th round TKO; Frankie Gomez stopped James Hope in the 3rd; Sakio Bikia defeated Alfredo Contreras at the discretion of the ringside physician after a cut opened up over Contreras’ eye; Omar Henry and Lester Gonzales fought to a technical draw after Gonzales suffered a cut in the 2nd; Carlos Molina won a unanimous decision over Manuel Leyva; and Eric Morel defeated Jose Silveira in a 10-round unanimous decision.

Boxing Insid