Abner Mares came into this fight with everything in his favor. The crowd booed his opponent, Jhonny Gonzalez, from opening introductions and chehim loud loudly. Mares also boasted an undefeated record and was touted as one of Golden Boy’s next big stars.
That all came to an end when the heavy handed veteran Gonzalez landed a perfectly placed left hand with only less than a minute to go in the first round. The punch is one of the cleanest left hooks that you’ll ever see in a boxing match or any other fight.
Mares hopped up before the ref finished the 8 count but was visibly shaken & Gonzalez took full advantage of that. Mares couldn’t survive the final 20 seconds of the round & Gonzalez landed another monster punch that doubled over the champ Mares.
The referee decided that he had seen enough and that Mares had taken enough of a beating for one night. Of course that is the danger in facing an opponent with 47 career knockouts such as Gonzalez. A fight can change with one punch and in this fight that punch came in the 1st round.