ABNER MARES vs JONATHAN ARIAS

Abner Mares steps up the super bantam division on Telefutura tomorrow night when he meets a late replacement, Jonathan Arias, from Mexicali, in a 10-rounder made at 122 pounds.

Arias, who has won 13 of 14 fights, replaces Kermin Guardia, who had an issue with his medical examnation, matchmaker Eric Gomez told me on Thursday.

Guardia, a slippery and very experienced southpaw, would have been an interesting test for the unbeaten Mares. I am not so sure about Arias, who was stopped in the third round by the ageing Puerto Rican Javier Cintron in a big upset in January. Gomez said, however, that this was a controversial stoppage and he thought that the previously undefeated Arias deserved another chance. "He's a good fighter, aggressive and the bigger guy — it's going to be a good fight," Gomez said.

Arias does hold a win over the useful Francisco Arce, and he has scored several first-round KO wins, which indicates that he comes out fast and hard at the first bell.

So, instead of meeting a smaller man in the former flyweight Guardia, Mares now meets a bigger one in the junior featherweight Arias. Still, I do expect a convincing win for Mares. His second-round stoppage over Diosdado Gabi in his last fight was very impressive, even though the Filipino might have been drained by losing a lot of weight (he failed to make the bantam limit).

Mares seems to be fighting more professionally since coming under the direction of top Mexican trainer Nacho Beristain. What I particularly liked about him in the fight with Gabi was the way he went after the Filipino and let his punches go, precise and hurtful, once he had his man in trouble.

This is a big opportunity for Arias and I expect him to go at Mares and try to put him under pressure, but there seems to be sizeable gulf in class and I will be surprised if the Mexican Olympic representative doesn't win somewhere around the sixth round.