Mares Steps Up and Dominates Morel!

On Saturday night at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas, Undefeated former bantamweight world champion Abner Mares (24-0-1, 13 KOs) stepped up in weight and dominated former world champion Eric Morel (46-3, 23 KOs) in an entertaining scrap to claim the vacant WBC super bantamweight title.

Morel 36, came out in the opening minute and landed two right hands that welcomed the former 118 lb’r to the super bantamweight division. Mares however, would settle in and use a quick jab to set up right hands of his own. In the second, Mares caught the Puerto Rican fighter against the ropes and landed a left hook within a four-punch combination that buckled the legs of the veteran. Morel used movement to fight off the follow up attack and kept it entertaining as he didn’t abandon all offense in the process.

Midway through, Morel was able to get the blood flowing out of Mares’ nose by connecting with a couple of sneaky right uppercuts in close quarters as Mares pressed forward. During an exchange in the sixth, Mares landed a big left hook but took a straight right in return that had blood bursting out of his nose.

Morel, who had mostly boxed in the first six, came out in the seventh and pressured the younger fighter with some success but still, it was Mares with an all out body assault and occasional right hand upstairs to win the seventh and eighth rounds. Mares would go back to being the aggressor in the ninth and continued to put round after round in the bank.

The two would go toe-to-toe in the final round, both refusing to take a step backwards. A final exchange in the final 30 seconds had the crowd cheering and on their feet!

“Eric was strong, he took a lot of good shots that I threw” said Mares “I even told my corner ‘with one of these over hand rights, hes going to go down’ but he was able to sustain the power and go out like a champ, all 12 rounds. I’ve always said it, I’d rather give the fans 12 great rounds than a first or second round knock out”

In the end, despite a solid effort by Morel, it was all Mares with scores of 120-107, 119-109 and 119-109 to earn the unanimous decision.

“He was a great fighter. there’s no doubt about it. He’s one of the best fighter’s I’ve ever fought” Said Morel “There’s nothing to be ashamed of. He put up a great fight, he trained extremely hard and he showed it. What else can I say? Mares is just a great fighter, a lot of fighters are going to have problems with him”

“Any of them, you mention them all and lets go one-by-one” said Mares when asked ‘what’s next?’ “I know I will give them a great fight. I’ve always said it, I’m not afraid to lose, let’s give the fans a great fight. Win, lose, who cares lets do it for the fans.”

in the co-feature, Anselmo “Chemito” Moreno (33-1-1, 12 KOs) stopped David “Morita” de la Mora (24-2, 17 KOs) after nine rounds. Moreno dropped de la Mora in rounds two and six and after the ninth de la Mora decided he had had enough and did not answer the call for the tenth.