1. Abner Mares Martinez was born on November 28,1985 and is a Mexican-American professional boxer who works as a boxing analyst and commentator for Showtime.
25 Facts About Abner Mares
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Abner Mares has held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the IBF bantamweight title from 2011 to 2012, the WBC super bantamweight title from 2012 to 2013, the WBC featherweight title in 2013.
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Abner Mares held the WBA featherweight title from 2016 to 2018.
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Abner Mares grew up in the city of Hawaiian Gardens, California and holds dual citizenship with Mexico and the United States.
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Abner Mares was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico and at age seven his family moved to the city of Hawaiian Gardens, California.
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Abner Mares won the U17 World Championships and the bantamweight gold medal at the Central American games 2002 beating Juan Manuel Lopez and the silver medal in the same division in 2003 at the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo.
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Abner Mares participated in the 2004 Summer Olympics for his native country and was defeated in the first round of the Bantamweight division by Hungary's Zsolt Bedak in a highly controversial decision.
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In January 2005, Abner Mares won his professional debut against Puerto Rican Luis Malave.
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Abner Mares won his next three bouts before suffering an eye injury which required him to undergo surgery.
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Abner Mares returned to the ring 10 months later by stopping Jonathan Perez.
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Abner Mares had been trained as a professional by Hall of Famer Ignacio Beristain the two split after Mares changed promotional companies.
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On May 22,2010, Abner Mares challenged undefeated IBF Bantamweight Champion and the No 4 ranked Bantamweight Yonnhy Perez for his title.
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Golden Boy Promotions announced that Abner Mares would be taking part in Showtime's four-man single elimination bantamweight tournament, which would include Vic Darchinyan, Joseph Agbeko and Yonnhy Perez.
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Abner Mares was scheduled to face IBF Champion and No 3 ranked Joseph Agbeko in the final round of the tournament on April 23,2011.
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However, the match was not without controversy, as Abner Mares delivered numerous low blows during the match, with referee Russell Mora not penalizing him with point deductions for any of the blows throughout the match.
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The most infamous of these blows came during the 11th round of the fight, in which a low blow from Abner Mares landed on Agbeko's cup, causing Agbeko to drop.
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Abner Mares' next fight took place on November 10,2012, against the world No 1 ranked bantamweight and then No 10 pound-for-pound Anselmo Moreno.
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Abner Mares started the fight off fast, applying relentless pressure on Moreno, forcing Moreno to the ropes for the majority of the early rounds.
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Abner Mares defended his WBC Featherweight title against underdog former world champion Jhonny Gonzalez on August 24,2013, at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.
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Abner Mares lost the fight in a first-round TKO to Gonzalez.
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The referee stopped the fight after Abner Mares was knocked down for the second time in the first round.
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Abner Mares would leave his management company, Espinoza Boxing Club, as well as trainer Clemente Medina.
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On December 10,2016, Abner Mares fought Jesus Cuellar for the WBA "regular" featherweight title.
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Abner Mares retained his title be winning the fight via technical decision in the tenth round.
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On June 9,2018, Abner Mares fought WBA super featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz in a long-anticipated rematch.