Abner Mares: Eager The Next Mexican Icon

By José Santana Jr: The past year has delivered a few set-backs to highly touted bantamweight contender Abner Mares. None, fortunately, have come in the ring as the Guadalajara, Mexico native holds an impressive 18-0 (11KO) record. The 23 year-old Mares suffered a detached retina in October which required surgery and extended his wait outside of the ring to almost a full year. It was not until May 2 that he returned with a sixth-round stoppage of Columbian, Jonathan Perez.

Shortly after signing with the Espinoza Boxing Club [Frank Espinoza] as his manager later that month, Mares’ trainer, Ignacio “Nacho” Beristain informed him that he would no longer be working with him. Mares, a 2004 Mexican Olympian, who now resides in Montebello, California, was not discouraged by either of these occurrences and is ready to get back into the ring. He carries and impressive amateur background, which includes numerous medals and over one-hundred wins, including a gold medal victory over Juan Manuel Lopez in the 2002 Central American & Caribbean Games. He travelled between Mexico and the USA in order to represent his country of birth in the Olympics, and has taken that same work ethic into his pro career.

Mares, promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, is now eager to make his Espinoza Boxing debut. Though a scheduled July 18 fight on the Mayweather-Marquez undercard was cancelled, he still feels that now is finally his time and knows he’ll prove it soon. In an exclusive interview with SecondsOut, Mares talks about the aformentioned and the many happenings in his career at the present time.

Jose Santana Jr.: How did you come to the decision that you wanted to sign with the Espinoza Boxing Club as your management team?

Abner Mares: It was pretty easy. My dad [Ismael Mares] was my manager and we were just looking for a little help as far as experience. Frank Espinoza is known to be a great manager. He has Israel Vasquez and a lot of other fighters who he has developed so it wasn’t that hard of a decision to make. He’s a great mentor and a great person to have in my corner.

JS: What do you think of what Frank has done with the careers of Israel Vazquez and Martin Castillo and did that play a role in your decision?

AM: That was one of the factors of why we chose him. We had Golden Boy helping us out as far as choosing some names and Frank Espinoza just popped up. He was the big one of so many and we decided to stay with him.

JS: They had a barbeque last week for all the fighters at Frank’s house, did you get to attend and how was it getting to know the rest of the fighters on the team and what do you think of the overall experience?

AM: It was great! I didn’t think all the fighters were going to be there. Frank just told me they were having a little barbeque at his house and asked if I could come. As soon as I got there he introduced me to most of the fighters that he works with and they’re all real nice guys – very nice! They are all young guys too. I think the oldest one is maybe twenty-six. I blended in right away and they’re a real cool crowd.

JS: So is that one of the things then that attracted you about Frank; his charisma and how personable he is? He likes to make all his fighters feel welcome and as a part of the ‘family.’

AM: Yes. I didn’t know much about Frank as a person. I just heard about Frank Espinoza because of Israel Vasquez since that’s the main fighter he has right now. Now, knowing him and getting to know him as a person he really is a great guy. His fighters, the way they look at him and talk to him with so much respect and admiration, it gives you that idea that he is that type of manager. He doesn’t just play the part as a manager, but as a friend too.

JS: Your fight scheduled for July 18th was cancelled due to the postponement of the Mayweather-Marquez fight, how disappointed were you and have you heard anything from Frank or Golden Boy about your next match and when you’re looking to get in the ring again?

AM: Yes, I was disappointed because we were training well and looking forward to this fight. I had just come back from my surgery [torn retina] and had not boxed for a year and this was going to be my first fight with Frank Espinoza. So we were all looking forward to that fight and the cancellation just killed it for all of us. But, I think Golden Boy and Frank are going to be looking for somewhere they can put me in. They had mentioned the Rocky Juarez [vs. Chris John] card if it was going to be cancelled and moved to July, but they did not cancel it. But we’ll definitely fight before September when the Mayweather-Marquez fight is rescheduled for. They asked me if I wanted to stay on the card and wait until then but I said no, I want to fight already. So I think they are looking for a fight for late July or August.

JS: Recently your trainer Nacho Beristain has decided not to train you anymore. What is the reasoning behind this?

AM: Nacho is a great guy. We still talk and he’s a cool guy. I trained with him for two years and about seven fights. I have nothing bad to say about him but I guess him and Frank had some differences from back in the days, but I don’t know what that is. He just said that can’t work with me anymore because of my team. I was a little disappointed but he went his way and I went my way and we’re still good friends. He just didn’t want to train and no hard feelings at all.

JS: So who is your new trainer and what kinds of things are you working on now?

AM: We started training with Joel Diaz from Coachella, California; mostly known for the Diaz brothers [lightweight Julio Diaz]. I started working with him for about three weeks before the fight got cancelled. We started to blend in and get real comfortable with the style of the training. He has Timothy Bradley and a couple of fighters that are coming up.

This guy is young. We’re talking about a thirty-something year-old guy, so he has the energy to train me like that. He runs with us, he trains with us, and he’s just a guy that is full of energy and I think that is going to help me out as far as showing that same energy inside the ring. It was only three weeks that we trained and we are still looking for other trainers, but for now the guy is Joel Diaz.

JS: As a highly regarded up-and-comer in boxing, what are some of your goals for this year and what would you like to have accomplished by the end of 2009 into 2010?

AM: A lot of people may think that I’m rushing it, but a lot of things have happened already in my career. I think, what we want is maybe two more fights and then to fight for a world championship this year. Let it be Fernando Montiel if he’s still a champion by then or anybody. We were looking for an Arce(Jorge) fight but I think that he has no intentions yet of moving up to 118lbs. We’re just looking for good fights. No disrespect to the other fighters, but I just want to fight fighters that are known. But no rush, just god willing by the end of this year or beginning of next year we’ll be fighting for a world title. I only fought on May 2nd since my surgery so we don’t want to rush it, maybe a good one or two fights and then my body will feel it and my team will see it if I’m ready or not. The way I’m training and where I’m at mentally I think it’s coming by next year.

JS: Are you going to wait to have a set trainer before going for that world title?

AM: Definitely! The trainer is one of the most important things. A lot of people have talked about me switching trainers so often and that it may do me some harm, but I take it the other way around because I have learned something from all of them. I had Mayweather, Nacho Beristain, Oscar Suarez, just so many people whom I have learned from. With Joel I am still learning new things and if we do stick with him, we’ll definitely fight for a world title with him. They have mentioned Hopkins’ trainer [Nazim Richardson] as well, so we don’t have an official trainer, but right now we’re with Joel Diaz. I adapt very well and whoever it is, we’ll become world champions together.

JS: Would you like to get any last message in there for the people to hear?

AM: To all the people that have followed me since day one, or the people that have heard of me: I’ve got so much to show. I’ve got so much to give to people in boxing. You’ve seen not even thirty percent of Abner Mares. There’s a lot to show and we’ll definitely be world champions and that next Mexican icon, God willing.

July 1, 2009