Put two excellent boxers in the ring against each other in a fight that either man can win and you have the ingredients for a highly competitive and compelling contest, which is what I am expecting when Abner Mares meets Joseph Agbeko in the final of the Showtime bantamweight tournament from Las Vegas on Saturday. Mares was a slight betting favourite prior to the bout?s original date of April 23. This time, Mares is something like -215 at the sportsbooks although I would make the odds much tighter.
Agbeko?s lively workouts show a full recovery from the sciatica problem that caused the bout to be postponed from the original April date, but Mares is looking very strong and has had the aura of a winner in the week of the fight, carrying himself with a quiet certitude.
Mares is seen as the rising star, a popular, talented Mexican-born boxer from southern California who showed heart and staying power in his last two fights, the gruelling draw with Yonnhy Perez (a bout that Mares seemed clearly to win) and his split decision victory over Vic Darchinyan. Mares, 25, is the younger fighter with the fresher look.
Agbeko, a Ghanaian living in New York, is 31, and he has been in some tough fights. Yonnhy Perez soundly defeated him when they fought in Las Vegas two years ago, but Agbeko convincingly won the rematch last December. There is a perception, though, that Perez was a ?shot? fighter going into his rematch with Agbeko, that three draining fights in a row (with Silence Mabuza, Agbeko the first time and then the war with Mares) had taken more out of Perez than anyone realised.
However, Agbeko was highly impressive against Perez when turning the tables on the Colombian boxer. Whereas Agbeko stayed right in front of Perez in their first meeting, this time he moved and countered, and it seemed he couldn?t miss with the right hand. When Perez made a huge effort in the middle of the fight, Agbeko kept his composure and rallied to regain control.
I feel that Mares is the stronger man physically in this fight, but Agbeko is very experienced in 12-round bouts and has shown the ability to adapt. While each man has beaten Vic Darchinyan, I thought that Agbeko did so more emphatically even though two judges had Agbeko just a one-point winner. However, Mares was backing up and bullying Darchinyan in the later rounds in a way that Agbeko never did. ?Abner grew 30 per cent as a fighter in the fight with Darchinyan,? Mares?s manager, Frank Espinoza, said over the phone from Las Vegas on Thursday evening.
Mares and Agbeko have both shown that they can come on strongly late in a fight and each has demonstrated a good chin. Each man knows how to box and how to fight. The boxers are respectful of each other, which is what I like. Frankly I am getting tired of the big talkers who don?t back up their words when the heat is on.
A strong case can be made for either man winning. I have certainly gone back and forth, and even as late as Monday of this week I was undecided. I think that Agbeko has the toughness and the seasoning to stand and fight with Mares, and the technical acumen to box with the younger man. There is a chance that Agbeko might be able to be a little more versatile on the night, bearing in mind how he shuffled the deck and gave Perez a boxing lesson in their rematch.
I didn?t like it, though, when Agbeko failed to make weight by a couple of ounces at the first attempt at Friday?s weigh-in. It was a trifling amount, true, but, in an evenly matched contest such as this, one doesn?t like anything at all that gives the impression of something being not quite right.
Mares, to me, has had the look of a winner this week. ?I was watching Abner in his last workout and his punches were so sharp,? Frank Espinoza told me. ?This young man is so humble, but he is very sure he is going to win this fight. I?m usually nervous when one of my guys is going into a big fight, but this is one of the few times when I am very calm and relaxed about a fight. I think this is Abner?s time.?
Espinoza hints that he feels that Mares might even be able to force a stoppage. ?I want to see how Agbeko reacts when Abner is taking it to him and hitting him in the body in the later rounds,? Espinoza said.
I think that players have been picking up a positive vibe about Mares, because money has been showing for him for the past two days at the offshore sportsbooks.
To me, this is a wide-open fight that is likely to provide 12 nip-and-tuck rounds but as much as I respect Agbeko I have been getting the sense in the last few days that youth will be served. There is very little to split these two worthy warriors but sometimes you get the feeling that one of the fighters will not be denied, and, with the bout less than 24 hours away, I am getting that feeling about Mares.
Visit fightwriter.com Subscribers? previews this week include Cintron-Smith, Palacios-Torres, Tua-Barrett, Sabrina Perez-Vannessa Guimaraes, plus updates and wagering suggestions.
