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By Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports
Jun 19, 5:49 pm EDT
Abner Mares was, he concedes with more than a tinge of embarrassment, “a knucklehead.” If trouble didn’t find him, he often went looking for it.
He grew up in an area of Southern California, Hawaiian Gardens, known as the “City of Hate.” And while he didn’t really have hate in his body, he had to play the part.
He had to if he wanted to escape without a knife in his back or a bullet in his stomach.
And so Mares would routinely seek out trouble. Frequently, it was fights between the Hispanic-oriented gangs that he frequented and the gangs dominated by African-American teens.
He was born in Mexico, where he lived his first six years, before his mother, Velen, took him and six of his 10 brothers across the border and brought them to live in Southern California.
When he reached high school, it was just accepted, he said, that the Mexicans didn’t like the blacks. And vice versa.
“I’m not racist and I never have been,” said Mares (16-0), who turned to boxing and has become one of the game’s rising bantamweight stars. “But in the situation I was in, the Mexicans hated the blacks. And so you fought them.”
But Mares, who first saw the inside of a boxing gym when he tagged along with his older brother, Ismael Jr., when he was 8 years old, didn’t believe in the street fighting and gang warfare.
And he knew that the same people who were professing to be his friends and who would protect his back would turn on him with little provocation.
“You have this influence around you and if you’re not a strong, strong personality, it’s hard to resist it,” Mares said. “But I got lucky. I realized these so-called friends of mine weren’t really friends. I got out.”
As often is the case in these stories, boxing was the vehicle. Mares is now 16-0 with 10 knockouts and on the road to becoming the first Golden Boy Promotions signed and developed world champion.
He faces veteran Kermin Guardia on June 27 at the Morongo Casino in Cabazon, Calif., a bout that could propel him closer to a shot at the WBO bantamweight belt held by Gerry Penalosa.
No less an authority than Floyd Mayweather Sr., Mares’ former trainer, believes the 22-year-old may wear a belt soon. Mayweather trained Mares for several months until Mares decided that Mayweather’s shoulder roll style was not for him.
Mayweather isn’t normally free with the compliments when a fighter leaves him, especially one whom he claims didn’t pay him, as he said Mares failed to do. But Mayweather conceded that Mares has the ability to be an elite bantamweight in the near future.
“I do believe he has the ability to become a world champion, and a very good one,” Mayweather said. “I don’t like the fact that he’s been getting hit so much since he left me, but he is very confident in what he does, he’s a quick learner and he has a lot of heart.
“Sometimes, I see guys I think are championship material and they don’t make it. He’s one I think can make it and will make it, because he’ll dedicate himself to it and do what he needs to do to get there.”
He represented Mexico in the 2004 Olympics, where he lost a controversial first-round decision to Zsolt Bedak of Hungary.
But Mares got lucky despite the loss. He caught the eye not only of Golden Boy president Oscar De La Hoya, but also of De La Hoya’s wife, Millie, who insisted her husband would be wise to check Mares out.
“Oscar and his wife watched my fight and they thought I got robbed big-time,” Mares said. “Later, I was doing an interview on Mexican TV. Oscar’s wife saw it and she told Oscar, ‘I think the poor kid is going to cry.’ She told him he should sign me and Oscar finally called me.”
De La Hoya finally signed him and Mares might wind up becoming the first totally Golden Boy-produced champion.
Golden Boy has had plenty of champions, but many of the champions on its roster were brought up by other promoters and signed by Golden Boy when they were at their peak. Mares has always been with Golden Boy, paying close attention to the way De La Hoya carries himself.
All the while, De La Hoya has had an eye on Mares.
“He’s a kid with all the talent in the world, but the thing about him that makes him different is how badly he wants to win,” De La Hoya said.
Now, he not only wants to win, but also to stay on the straight and narrow, so some day, he may serve as an example to other young men who faces the same difficult choices as he did.
One of his younger brothers is incarcerated and Mares admits he might have been, too, had he not discovered boxing.
“I’ve learned so much from Oscar, but one thing that is important I learned from him is that you control your life and what happens with it,” Mares said. “If you hang around with thugs and bad people, that’s what you’re going to be like. If you make the choice to stay away from that and hang around with good people, you can do anything you want if you work hard enough.
“Oscar has had a huge influence on me. I see what he’s done and I know where he came from. He doesn’t just speak the words. He’s lived them. I know the right way to do things now because of Oscar.”
Jun 19, 5:49 pm EDT
Abner Mares was, he concedes with more than a tinge of embarrassment, “a knucklehead.” If trouble didn’t find him, he often went looking for it.
He grew up in an area of Southern California, Hawaiian Gardens, known as the “City of Hate.” And while he didn’t really have hate in his body, he had to play the part.
He had to if he wanted to escape without a knife in his back or a bullet in his stomach.
And so Mares would routinely seek out trouble. Frequently, it was fights between the Hispanic-oriented gangs that he frequented and the gangs dominated by African-American teens.
He was born in Mexico, where he lived his first six years, before his mother, Velen, took him and six of his 10 brothers across the border and brought them to live in Southern California.
When he reached high school, it was just accepted, he said, that the Mexicans didn’t like the blacks. And vice versa.
“I’m not racist and I never have been,” said Mares (16-0), who turned to boxing and has become one of the game’s rising bantamweight stars. “But in the situation I was in, the Mexicans hated the blacks. And so you fought them.”
But Mares, who first saw the inside of a boxing gym when he tagged along with his older brother, Ismael Jr., when he was 8 years old, didn’t believe in the street fighting and gang warfare.
And he knew that the same people who were professing to be his friends and who would protect his back would turn on him with little provocation.
“You have this influence around you and if you’re not a strong, strong personality, it’s hard to resist it,” Mares said. “But I got lucky. I realized these so-called friends of mine weren’t really friends. I got out.”
As often is the case in these stories, boxing was the vehicle. Mares is now 16-0 with 10 knockouts and on the road to becoming the first Golden Boy Promotions signed and developed world champion.
He faces veteran Kermin Guardia on June 27 at the Morongo Casino in Cabazon, Calif., a bout that could propel him closer to a shot at the WBO bantamweight belt held by Gerry Penalosa.
No less an authority than Floyd Mayweather Sr., Mares’ former trainer, believes the 22-year-old may wear a belt soon. Mayweather trained Mares for several months until Mares decided that Mayweather’s shoulder roll style was not for him.
Mayweather isn’t normally free with the compliments when a fighter leaves him, especially one whom he claims didn’t pay him, as he said Mares failed to do. But Mayweather conceded that Mares has the ability to be an elite bantamweight in the near future.
“I do believe he has the ability to become a world champion, and a very good one,” Mayweather said. “I don’t like the fact that he’s been getting hit so much since he left me, but he is very confident in what he does, he’s a quick learner and he has a lot of heart.
“Sometimes, I see guys I think are championship material and they don’t make it. He’s one I think can make it and will make it, because he’ll dedicate himself to it and do what he needs to do to get there.”
He represented Mexico in the 2004 Olympics, where he lost a controversial first-round decision to Zsolt Bedak of Hungary.
But Mares got lucky despite the loss. He caught the eye not only of Golden Boy president Oscar De La Hoya, but also of De La Hoya’s wife, Millie, who insisted her husband would be wise to check Mares out.
“Oscar and his wife watched my fight and they thought I got robbed big-time,” Mares said. “Later, I was doing an interview on Mexican TV. Oscar’s wife saw it and she told Oscar, ‘I think the poor kid is going to cry.’ She told him he should sign me and Oscar finally called me.”
De La Hoya finally signed him and Mares might wind up becoming the first totally Golden Boy-produced champion.
Golden Boy has had plenty of champions, but many of the champions on its roster were brought up by other promoters and signed by Golden Boy when they were at their peak. Mares has always been with Golden Boy, paying close attention to the way De La Hoya carries himself.
All the while, De La Hoya has had an eye on Mares.
“He’s a kid with all the talent in the world, but the thing about him that makes him different is how badly he wants to win,” De La Hoya said.
Now, he not only wants to win, but also to stay on the straight and narrow, so some day, he may serve as an example to other young men who faces the same difficult choices as he did.
One of his younger brothers is incarcerated and Mares admits he might have been, too, had he not discovered boxing.
“I’ve learned so much from Oscar, but one thing that is important I learned from him is that you control your life and what happens with it,” Mares said. “If you hang around with thugs and bad people, that’s what you’re going to be like. If you make the choice to stay away from that and hang around with good people, you can do anything you want if you work hard enough.
“Oscar has had a huge influence on me. I see what he’s done and I know where he came from. He doesn’t just speak the words. He’s lived them. I know the right way to do things now because of Oscar.”
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