Mares wins, Angulo’s back, Lara-Matirosyan fight to draw
Abner Mares UD12 Anselmo Moreno: Abner Mares defended his WBC super bantamweight title via unanimous decision against WBA batamweight champ Anselmo Moreno. But the bout was far from as one sided as the two 116-110 and (James Jen Kim’s) 120-106 scorecards would indicate. Mares started fast, dropped Moreno for the first time in his career in the closing seconds of the fifth round, and was comfortably ahead after six rounds. But Moreno, now 33-2-1 (12KO), showed the heart of a champion and made the necessary adjustments to make this a competitive title fight that should have been hanging in the balance during the championship rounds. In round eleven Raul Caiz Jr, (who was terrible tonight) deducted a point from Moreno for pulling Mares’ head down. As entertaining as his bouts are, by now it’s difficult to regard Abner Mares, 25-0-1 (13KO), as anything but an extremely dirty fighter. Boxingtalk scored it 114-112 for Mares.
Leo Santa Cruz KO9 Victor Zaleta: Leo Santa Cruz defended his IBF bantamweight title in an action packed bout against Victor Zaleta. Santa Cruz scored knockdowns in the fourth, seventh and ninth. Santa Cruz improves to 22-0-1 (13KO) Official time of stoppage was 1:42.
Alfredo Angulo TKO1 Raul Casarez: It took all of :56 seconds for Alfredo Angulo to end matters with Raul Casarez. The two engaged in several exchanges before Angulo landed a perfect left hook that finished Casarez.
Erislandy Lara TD Vanes Matirosyan: Nobody can deny that Erislandy Lara and Vanes Matirosyan are two of the very best junior middleweights in the world, but their tactical chessmatch that ended prematurely did very little to inspire its viewing audience. While Matirosyan appeared to jump out to an early lead, Lara began to find his timing with his signature left hand. Twenty six seconds into the ninth an accidental clash of heads opened a nasty gash over Matirosyan’s left eye forcing the bout to be stopped. Official scores were 86-85 Matirosyan, 87-84 Lara and 86-86. Both boxers expressed interest in an immediate rematch, but since less than 100 COMBINED punches were landed in over eight rounds, it’s probably better for us if they don’t fight each other again.
Mikey Garcia TKO8 Johnathan Barros: Mikey Garcia kept his perfect record intact by handling the stiffest test of his young career in impressive fashion. Barros had only been beaten by the very best and Garcia could be on his way to big things. The end came in round eight when a powerful Garcia shot sent Barros crashing face first into the canvas. After he beat the count Barros told the referee, ‘no mas’ and the bout was called. Official time 2:24
