ABNER MARES vs ISIDRO 'CHINO' GARCIA

Up-and-coming bantamweight Abner Mares has his first 12-rounder and his most significant test on Friday when he meets the clever and experienced Isidro “Chino” Garcia in the main event on Telefutura’s Solo Boxeo show from the Desert Diamond casino in Tucson.

Mares, 21, is one of the hot prospects in the Golden Boy Promotions stable and has won 13 bouts in a row, but he has never been past eight rounds. Garcia, 31, has won titles as a flyweight but is moving up to 118 pounds for this bout although he boxed as a bantamweight five years ago when his fight with Mauricio Pastrana ended on a two-round technical draw — Garcia suffered a cut on the ear from contact with Pastrana’s elbow.

For the Mexican Olympic representative Mares this fight is a chance to increase his boxing knowledge and get the feel of boxing over the championship distance — the bout is for the vacant WBO NABO title. Garcia is a talented boxer but he is of course the smaller man and not considered a particularly hard hitter.

Mares is now being trained by Ignacio Beristain, one of the top Mexican trainers, and he is developing into an excellent all-around fighter with the precision that one associates with Beristain-trained fighters.

In his last Telefutura appearance, in April, Mares boxed a patient type of fight before finally catching up with Colombian veteran Angel Priolo in the sixth of a scheduled 10-rounder. Priolo had been stopped in three of his last four fights but Mares was in no hurry, and the fight looked like going the distance until he suddenly hurt the Colombian in the sixth, and he finished the fight in impressive style.

I get the impression that Mares is a sharp puncher rather than a banger. Four of his last seven fights have been won on points, and he seems unlikely to win quickly on Friday. Garcia has been the 12-round distance five times, including a fine performance when losing on points to Eric Morel for the WBA flyweight title in Puerto Rico four years ago.

Garcia dropped out of boxing for three and a half years after that fight but has won two fights after coming back. In his last fight he comfortably outpointed the capable Cesar Lopez in a 12-round flyweight title bout.

Garcia’s manager, Willie Torres, said over he phone from Los Angeles: “We’re moving up to 118 to give it a shot because there’s not much happening for him at 112 or 115. It’s youth versus experience. Abner’s quick and fast and strong, but he’s still got a long way to go, he’s still learning, and that’s to our advantage. We feel Abner has some weaknesses. Chino has sparred with him before and feels he did pretty good. Abner’s got a great trainer in Nacho Beristain but Chino’s trained by Javier Capetillo, who has 30 years in boxing.”

As for Garcia’s layoff, Torres said: “He left to see his family in Mexico, got married in Mexico and got more stability in his life and became hungry again for boxing. He’s been running up in the mountains and he’s been doing a lot of sparring with Nestor Rocha [the unbeaten bantamweight]. He has nothing to lose because we signed a two-fight deal, they paid us extra money, and we took the fight because we think we have a chance.”

Moving up two weight divisions is a big challenge for Garcia, though, especially against a young fighter being groomed for stardom. A smaller man who can box skilfully can win against a bigger fighter, as Ivan Calderon showed when outsmarting Hugo Cazares, but Calderon is a masterful, maybe great, boxer. Mares looks like being too young and strong for Garcia, and while he might have problems with Garcia’s speed and clever moves in the early rounds I think he should be able to start catching up with him by the midway point. Mares could overpower Garcia in the later rounds but I would not be surprised if the fight went the distance.

RESULT: Mares TKO end of 7: Mares was very sharp and Garcia suffered a swollen eye and by the seventh was taking shots without any effective reply; Garcia's corner retired their man.