Abner Mares vs. Jhonny Gonzalez Rematch in Talks

By Miguel Rivera

According to Osvaldo Kuchle, promoter of Jhonny Gonzalez (59-10, 49 KOs), there are ongoing discussions to have his fighter face Abner Mares (29-2-1, 15 KOs) in a rematch of their August 2013 clash.

When they met at the StubHub Center in Carson, Gonzalez was a huge underdog in the bout and Mares was on the verge of locking in a fight with rival Leo Santa Cruz.

In one of the bigger upsets of the year, Gonzalez clipped Mares early in the first round and put him down. Another knocked followed and the first was stopped at 2:55 and Gonzalez picked up the WBC featherweight title.

Following the fight, Mares exercised an immediate rematch clause and they were scheduled to fight the following February. The fight never happened when Mares withdrew from a sparring injury. There were multiple discussions to do the fight again,  but it never came together and eventually they went in their separate directions.

Kuchle says a March date is being thrown around. His side requested a catch-weight of 128-pounds, which Mares' rejected. Gonzalez has since moved up to the super featherweight limit of 130-pounds.

Mares won three in a row since the loss to Gonzalez, but suffered a decision loss to Leo Santa Cruz last August. Gonzalez made two defenses before he was knocked out by Gary Russell Jr. last March. Since then, he's won two of his last three. He was upset by Jonathan Oquendo last September on the Mayweather-Berto undercard in Las Vegas.

"We are negotiating a fight between Jhonny and Abner. Truthfully, I doubt Mares will accept [the fight], because he's already said no so many times. We wanted the fight at 128 pounds because we know that both of them find it hard to make the featherweight limit, and [Mares] said no and asked for 126 pounds. Jhonny is willing to go down to 126 pounds, so we are waiting for their response," said Küchle to ESPN Deportes.