By: Albert Alvarez
Mares still unbeaten, looking for Donaire- Before the fight, I picked Moreno to beat Mares. I figured that Moreno would make the fight more uncomfortable for Mares, turns out that it was Mares that made it uncomfortable for Moreno. I mentioned that I could see Moreno picking his spots and landing the more clean shots, but that I could also see Mares landing flurries that will be more “fan and judge friendly” thus, Mares could take it in a somewhat controversial manner.
I was wrong with my pick, but right with the final outcome. Mares won the fight by simply picking up the pace on Moreno and forcing Moreno to speed up his thought process. Mares is a straight up dog that will do whatever it takes to get that W. Mares is now 25-0-1 and was very outspoken after the fight, telling the boxing world that he wants to face Nonito Donaire next.
Photo: Showtime
Mares vs. Donaire would be very interesting to see. Mares would fight Donaire like a dog and would want to get in real close, but Donaire has timing, rapid feet, power, and quickness. Those are 4 big qualities to think about. Because after all, if the softer punching Moreno was able to buzz Mares a few times, imagine Donaire unloading a perfectly placed and timed shot, with a lot more velocity behind it.
Props to Mares for getting the win, and major props to Mares for always looking for the toughest fights out there. More fighters should put the briefcase down and should instead be about it, instead of just talking about it.
Vanes/Lara fight to a technical draw- A clash of heads ended things in this fight at the start of the 9th round. Up until then, the fight was very close to me. I had it for Lara by a point, but I could understand and would not argue with you if you had it for Vanes. I hate to say it, but these two fighters will have to do it all over again, in order to get a clear answer. But first, Vanes’s eye lid needs to recover. That cut was so nasty and deep that I could see Vanes’s thoughts. If Canelo was out there watching, Canelo had to have been thinking, um yeah, give me someone to really get me up for. I’m sure that Floyd, Cotto, and Maravilla Martinez would do just that.
Leo Santa Cruz, the punching machine- That Santa Cruz kid fought like the reincarnation of Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. last night. Wow, this kid can really dig to the body. Santa Cruz vs. Mares would be a torture chamber type of clash. I would pay to see Santa Cruz fight the flu on his couch, this kid is that entertaining to see.
Mikey Garcia, the silent killer- Garcia knocked out Jonathan Barros in the 8th round with a huge left hook. Garcia as I mentioned before, is a silent killer, he slowly studies his opponent then breaks him down. In watching the fight, I felt that the k.o. came 4 rounds too late. I love the way Garcia operates, but his patience kills me at times. But who really cares what I think, because Garcia is now 30-0 and is now knocking on Salido’s door. Salido is just the guy to force Garcia to throw that patience out the window. But then again, it says here that patience is a virtue.
Alfredo Angulo, El Perro is back!- Angulo came back sporting a whole new look to his hair, El Perro now has long hair, Angulo is growing his hair out for support of all the poor children fighting against cancer. I was wanting to see a few more rounds of Angulo, to see how he looked under the trained eye of Virgil Hunter. But Angulo had different plans, El Perro laid out Casarez in the first round. I’m looking forward to seeing Angulo in the ring again, hopefully this time the fight goes on a little bit longer.
Phoenix’s very own Andrew Hernandez improved to 5-0 by knocking out Rudy Puga in the first round. Can’t wait to see the hurricane in the ring again.
On Friday night,
Gary Russell Jr gave us a knock out of the year type of knock out when he blasted Roberto Castaneda in the 3rd round with a killer right hook. The step up in competition is now a must for Russell Jr. I like this kid a lot.
