Abner Mares vs Jhonny Gonzalez

Abner Mares lost both his unbeaten record and the WBC featherweight championship when Jhonny Gonzalez knocked him out in the opening round at the StubHub Center in Carson, California, on 24 August 2013. Gonzalez, a former champion who had entered as the underdog, floored Mares twice before referee Jack Reiss stopped the contest at 2 minutes 55 seconds. Both men weighed 125 pounds. Mares entered with a record of 26-0-1 and was making the first defence of the featherweight championship he had won from Daniel Ponce de Leon three months earlier. Gonzalez was 54-8 and attempting to regain the WBC belt he had lost to Ponce de Leon in September 2012. The attendance was reported as 7,686.

Mares had advanced rapidly through the lighter divisions. He had already held major championships at bantamweight and super-bantamweight before moving to featherweight, where he stopped Ponce de Leon in the ninth round in May 2013 to take the WBC title. His unbeaten record and recent run of important victories had established him as one of the leading fighters in the lower weights. Gonzalez presented a very different proposition from an ordinary first challenger. Although he had accumulated eight defeats, he was an experienced former two-division champion with exceptional punching power and 46 stoppages among his 54 victories entering the contest. His previous reign as WBC featherweight champion had ended against Ponce de Leon on a technical decision following an accidental head clash, rather than through a decisive defeat.

The opening round began with no indication that the contest would end before the bell. Mares started to establish his combinations and appeared to be settling into the fight when Gonzalez suddenly found an opening that transformed the fight. Gonzalez caught him with a heavy overhand right to the head. Mares went down hard on his back and was plainly shaken. He managed to regain his feet, but the knockdown had immediately changed his condition and left Gonzalez with nearly a full minute to exploit the damage.

Gonzalez recognised the situation at once. Rather than allowing Mares time to recover, he advanced, forcing him into exchanges. Mares attempted to fight his way out of trouble, but his legs had not fully recovered from the first knockdown, and he was unable to restore distance or regain control. Gonzalez continued punching with the confidence of a man who understood that the champion was still badly hurt. He later said that he knew from the first knockdown that Mares had been seriously affected. That judgement proved correct.

The second knockdown came near the end of the round. Gonzalez drove home a wide left hook to the jaw with considerable force, sending Mares heavily to the canvas again. The champion attempted to rise, but Reiss decided that he could not safely continue. The referee stopped the contest with only five seconds remaining in the first round. Mares later said that although he believed he could have gone on, he accepted the referee’s decision and had no complaint about Reiss doing his job.

The result was a substantial upset because Mares had been unbeaten and was considered one of the strongest young champions in boxing, while Gonzalez had been regarded in some quarters as a dangerous but declining former titleholder. Gonzalez instead demonstrated that his punching power remained entirely capable of deciding a championship contest at the highest level. The victory improved his record to 55-8 with 47 knockouts and restored the WBC featherweight championship to him. Gonzalez described the win afterwards as the greatest moment of his career, particularly because he felt that much of the attention beforehand had been directed toward the possibility of Mares eventually meeting Leo Santa Cruz rather than towards Gonzalez himself.

The contrast with Mares’ previous championship appearances was striking. He had shown adaptability and stamina in lengthy contests against Joseph Agbeko and Anselmo Moreno and had successfully moved through several weight divisions. Against Gonzalez, however, none of those qualities had time to become relevant. One accurate right hand caught him before the contest had developed, and the experienced challenger did not allow him the recovery period which might have changed the outcome. There were no scorecards and no gradual shift in tactics. The championship passed from one man to the other in less than three minutes.

For Gonzalez, the victory restored a career which had appeared to be moving away from the championship level after the loss to Ponce de Leon. For Mares, it was his first professional defeat and a severe one, but it did not erase what he had already accomplished across three divisions. The lasting significance of the fight rests in its suddenness. Gonzalez did not outwork Mares over twelve rounds or wear him down through accumulated punishment. He caught an unbeaten champion cleanly, recognised the damage immediately and finished the contest before Mares could recover. It was a concise demonstration of why Gonzalez remained dangerous irrespective of his age, record or position as an underdog.

I remember this as one of those nights where boxing slaps you round the face for believing the form book. Mares was unbeaten, had won world titles in three divisions and looked like a man heading towards much bigger fights. Gonzalez had eight losses and was being spoken about like the dangerous old pro in the opposite corner. That was a mistake.

What Gonzalez still had was serious punching power, and Mares found that out almost immediately. The first knockdown came from a cracking right hand, and once Gonzalez saw the damage, he went straight after him. The second knockdown finished it at 2:55 of the first.

For me, the lesson is simple. Records don’t punch back. Gonzalez had been in with top men for years and knew exactly what to do when he hurt somebody. Mares was the younger, fresher champion, but Gonzalez was the more dangerous man that night, and he proved it in under three minutes.