By Mark Vester

Former super flyweight champion Cristian Mijares (36-5-2, 15 KOs) was edged by the less experienced, Nehomar Cermeno (17-0, 10 KOs), in their bout at the Centennial Coliseum in Torreon, Mexico. Cermano pulled out a split decision with scores of 116-112, 115-113 that went in his direction, and 117-111 for Mijares. Cermeno picked up the WBA interim-bantamweight title with the win.

Mijares' career is now at a big crossroads. He lost his second bout in a row. In his last outing, he lost his super flyweight titles by way of a ninth round knockout to Vic Darchinyan in November of last year. He announced a jump in weight and appeared to be confident that a move to bantamweight would be better for him. Now he lost in his bantamweight debut.

Less than a year ago Mijares was considered by many as one of the best pound for pound fighters in the sport. He was a heavy favorite to beat Darchinyan. These two defeats may have knocked him down to middle-tier status, where up and comers may try to use him to pad their record with a good name. The same flaws that Mijares showed in the fight with Darchinyan were once again evident with Cermeno. He lacked the proprer counter punching, he didn't use the jab enough and there were too many points in the fight were he stood back and waited on Cermeno to throw the first punch. 

At age 27, logic says that Mijares could work his way back to a big fight with a few decent wins. Now at a higher weight, his lack of punching power may cause him more problems as he meets bigger fighters who can take everything he throws.

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