By: William Holmes
Who’s the best boxer in the super bantamweight division? Tonight’s card featured two of the best in the division, but they did not fight against each other. Until one of them fights Nonito Donaire, neither of them can claim to be the best, no matter how many belts they hold.
Photo: Tom Hogan/Hogan Photos
The first bout of the night was between David De La Mora (24-1) and Anselmo Moreno (32-1) for the WBA Super World Bantamweight Championship at a catch weight of 120 pounds.
Moreno clearly outclassed De La Mora from the beginning, and had De La Mora literally running away in the second round. Moreno knocked De La Mora down and the latter man went back to his corner hurt from a body shot. De La Mora also had to withstand withering assaults by Moreno on his body and pinpoint accuracy upstairs. Moreno slipped in the third round and fell through the ropes, though it possibly could have been called a knockdown.
Moreno knocked De La Mora down in the sixth round with a solid body shot, causing De La Mora to take a knee. Moreno continued to assault De La Mora in the seventh round, and the crowd could be heard booing the action in the ring, mainly due to De La Mora’s refusal to engage at certain points in the fight. De La Mora got tagged by Moreno with some hard shots in the eighth round, and he refused to answer the bell for the ninth, giving Moreno the 9th round TKO.
Ironically, Moreno got booed heavily by the crowd as he was placed on the shoulders of one of his corner men. Moreno improved his record to 33-1, and a possible bigger fight in the near future in the super bantamweight division.
The main event of the night was between Abner Mares (23-0) and Eric Morel (46-2) for the WBC Super Bantamweight Championship.
The crowd was largely behind the Mexican fighter Abner Mares, and he did not disappoint. He blistered Morel with body/head combinations and Mares often called Morel forward, begging him to exchange. Morel was willing to stay in the pocket and engage with Mares, but he was not able to handle the speed and precision of Mares. Mares looked impressive tonight, and despite the fact that Morel has fought most of his career in the flyweight and super flyweight division he came to fight. He just ran into a younger, stronger, and eager bull.
Mares won with scores of 120-107, 119-109, and 119-109 by unanimous decision to win the WBC Super Bantamweight Championship, but not a Super World Championship.
The only question that remains from tonight is will Mares take on the other winner from tonight, Anselmo Moreno? Or will he take on the true Super Bantamweight kingpin, Nonito Donaire?
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