Abner Mares Martínez (born November 28, 1985) is a Mexican-American professional boxer who also works as a boxing analyst and commentator for Showtime.
As an amateur boxer, Mares won numerous medals at international tournaments while representing Mexico.
He grew up in the city of Hawaiian Gardens, California and holds dual citizenship with Mexico and the United States.
[2] Mares was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico and at age seven his family moved to the city of Hawaiian Gardens, California.
Mares won the U17 World Championships and the bantamweight gold medal at the Central American games 2002 beating Juan Manuel López and the silver medal in the same division in 2003 at the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo.
He participated in the 2004 Summer Olympics for his native country and was defeated in the first round of the Bantamweight (54 kg) division by Hungary's Zsolt Bedák in a highly controversial decision.
He had been trained as a professional by Hall of Famer Ignacio Beristáin, however, the two split after Mares changed promotional companies.
Golden Boy Promotions announced that Mares would be taking part in Showtime's four-man single elimination bantamweight tournament, which would also include Vic Darchinyan, Joseph Agbeko and Yonnhy Perez.
Mares fought Agbeko on August 13 on Showtime and won the title and the tournament by majority decision.
2 ranked Featherweight, Daniel Ponce de León in the Mayweather-Guerrero undercard on May 4, 2013, and knocked down de León in the second and ninth rounds en route to handing him a TKO loss at 2:20 of the ninth round, winning the WBC featherweight title in the process.
[8] Mares defended his WBC Featherweight title against underdog former world champion Jhonny González on August 24, 2013, at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.
[9][Video 1] Mares would leave his management company, Espinoza Boxing Club, as well as trainer Clemente Medina.
[11] On June 9, 2018, Mares fought WBA super featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz in a long-anticipated rematch.