Mares Manhandles Morel

Youth was served last night at the Don Haskins Convention Center, El Paso, Texas as Abner Mares defeated Eric Morel by unanimous decision to capture the vacant WBC super bantamweight title. In so doing, Mares erased any lingering doubts that may have arisen from his two controversial wins over previous foe Joseph Agbeko.

For those people who are critical of boxing, the Mares-Morel fight showcased everything that is great about boxing. Fought at a catch weight of 120 lbs., Mares victory was decisively one-sided with one judge giving him all 12 rounds while the other two judges gave him 11 rounds. Mares controlled the fight by utilizing his technical superiority. In a word, Mares was brilliant, using a blistering body attack punctuated by a devastating left hook to systematically break down Eric Morel round by round.

Eric Morel was very game and had his moments during the match but they were very few and far between. The much slower Morel absorbed a tremendous amount of punishment and looked in danger of going down on several occasions. A fighter of lesser ability would have succumbed earlier in the bout. Mares doubled and tripled up on his jab and gave a clinic on body punching, landing 6 and 8 punch combinations at will on Morel’s battered and bruised flanks for all 12 rounds.

Mares came in behind his jab and overwhelmed Morel with his hand speed and punching power. Mares was equally good on defense, giving Morel a lot of head movement and shoulder rolls, making it difficult for the older man to find his target on a consistent basis. Morel fought his heart out in every round but was soundly beaten by a vastly superior fighter.

Morel did land some very hard shots on Mares chin in the later rounds but those shots had absolutely no effect on the shorter man. Mares’s domination of Morel was evident from the opening bell and he was not going to be denied in his quest for the WBC super bantamweight title belt. Mares was focused and determined and left little if any room for criticism.

Time and again Mares bounced hellacious right and left hooks off of Morel’s exposed chin, hurting the older fighter on numerous occasions, and forcing him to clinch and cover-up. Mares landed over 57% of his power shots in the fight. Suffice to say, anytime you reach or go beyond a 50% connect rate in any fight, you are going to walk away with the win.  Morel was gracious in defeat, acknowledging the obvious, that the better man won. After giving Mares his just due, Morel vowed to continue on with his career.

The future looks bright for Abner Mares and the super bantamweight division. There is already talk about a possible unification fight with WBA super bantamweight titlist Anselmo Moreno, who successfully defended his title last night by way of 9^th round kayo. Such a fight would be every boxing fan’s dream.

The reigning WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire is widely considered to be the top super bantam in the world. He is preparing to face Mexican Cristian Mijares on July 14^th in Texas, in defence of his title. With Donaire, Mares, Moreno and Mijares all in the mix, the super bantamweight division looks set to embark on a golden era.