Mares was knocked out by tough veteran Jhonny Gonzalez in the first round of their title fight giving Mares the first loss of his career. Up until this fight Mares was a rising star, he is good looking, very well spoken, and can speak both English and Spanish making him popular in the U.S. as well as Mexico. He was ranked in almost everyone's top fifteen pound for pound rankings and was Big Time Boxing's number ten ranked fighter. Mares was a fighter who could do it all offensively whether it was box or brawl and always gave fans an exciting fight. Now that version of Mares as an all offense, all action fighter could be a thing of the past.
The reason Mares got knocked out by Gonzalez, besides a monster left hand from Gonzalez, was his inability to tie Gonzalez up after he was hurt. Instead of Mares playing it safe after his first knockdown and tying up Gonzalez until he got his legs back he decided to go right back on the offense, throwing wild looping punches. As bad as the loss looked for Mares it should be a blessing in disguise.
Mares was a young fighter who had already beat some of the best in the sport and may have been growing increasingly overconfident. This loss should bring Mares back to earth and force him to head back to the gym to tweak his fighting style. Mares will need to learn the intricacies of fighting at a championship level, specifically when to tie his opponent up and that when he is in serious trouble there is no shame in taking a knee. If Mares improves his defense, which is already solid albeit not great, he will be near unstoppable.
One thing became clear today, Mares will not wait long before he gets back between the ropes. He had a rematch clause in his contract with Gonzalez and he plans to exercise that clause before the end of the year. Mares hopes that fight will take place in December however a fight of this magnitude will cost Showtime who televised the first fight a lot of money that they may not have at the very end of the year. If a fight can't be made in 2013 then it will most definitely take place in January of 2014.
If Mares were to avenge his loss and look sharp against Gonzalez he wouldn't have to wait long before he was right back in the top ten pound for pound rankings. On the other hand another loss to Gonzalez could spell disaster for his career. Big time boxing fans are well aware of that possibility having already seen it play out in 2013 when heavyweight prospect David Price lost to veteran Tony Thompson in a fight that had Price as the heavy favorite. That fight was in February and Price was stopped in the second round. Then just five months later in July Price decided to fight a rematch against Thompson and was stopped again this time in the fifth round.
Price was an untested fighter who got exposed, something that shouldn't happen to a fighter with the skill level of Mares. But it is always dangerous getting right back in the ring with a fighter who just knocked you out without a tuneup fight in between. The smart thing for Mares to do would probably be to take a fight against a tough veteran with some name recognition but no real power but that just isn't his style. Mares wants his belt back and he wants it back before the year is out. Those kind of brass balls could seriously hurt his career if he loses but if he wins he is right back on track to super stardom.
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