by Mick Akers
As one of the fighters in the co-featured bout on the Floyd Mayweather–Robert Guerrero fight card, Abner Mares will look to continue his undefeated streak as he takes on the dangerous Daniel Ponce de Leon on May 4 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev.
Mares (25-0-1, 13 KOs), a former junior featherweight title holder, is coming off a 12-round unanimous decision over the skilled Anselmo Moreno; handing Moreno his first loss in over 10 years. This will be Mares’ first fight at the 126-pound featherweight division, as he moved up from the junior featherweight division after making a bout with Nonito Donaire fell through.
De Leon (44-4, 35 KOs) will present Mares with his biggest challenge to date, as de Leon currently holds the WBC featherweight title and has won 10-of-his-las-12 bouts. The two losses came at the hands of two of the biggest rising stars in boxing, Yuriorkis Gamboa and Adrien Broner which both went down in 2011.
De Leon presents a danger in the ring anytime he has a bout due to his potent knockout power. De Leon has won by KO in 35 of his 44 professional bouts, giving him an outstanding 80 percent knockout percentage.
Mares will be wise to make it more of a chess match rather than a slugfest, as he will fare far better against de Leon by not giving him as many chances to land a fight-altering punch.
If the two put on a show, Oscar De La Hoya maybe on to something thinking a boxing trilogy can be made out of the two fighters. Mares and de Leon both have an adequate amount of buzz behind them and performing well on boxing’s biggest stage, a Mayweather-lead fight card, boxing fans will tune in if and when the two square off again in the future.
Mares can make a name for himself in a new division and add another title to his list, but he’ll have to be ready for a war come Saturday night in order to do so.
Check out this one on one interview as our man Marcos Villegas speaks to Abner Mares.
