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By José Santana Jr: The past year has delivered a few set-backs to highly touted bantamweight contender Abner Mares. None, fortunately, have come in the ring as the Guadalajara, Mexico native holds an impressive 18-0 (11KO) record. The 23 year-old Mares suffered a detached retina in October which required surgery and extended his wait outside of the ring to almost a full year. It was not until May 2 that he returned with a sixth-round stoppage of Columbian, Jonathan Perez.
Shortly after signing with the Espinoza Boxing Club [Frank Espinoza] as his manager later that month, Mares’ trainer, Ignacio “Nacho” Beristain informed him that he would no longer be working with him. Mares, a 2004 Mexican Olympian, who now resides in Montebello, California, was not discouraged by either of these occurrences and is ready to get back into the ring. He carries and impressive amateur background, which includes numerous medals and over one-hundred wins, including a gold medal victory over Juan Manuel Lopez in the 2002 Central American & Caribbean Games. He travelled between Mexico and the USA in order to represent his country of birth in the Olympics, and has taken that same work ethic into his pro career.
Mares, promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, is now eager to make his Espinoza Boxing debut. Though a scheduled July 18 fight on the Mayweather-Marquez undercard was cancelled, he still feels that now is finally his time and knows he’ll prove it soon. In an exclusive interview with SecondsOut, Mares talks about the aformentioned and the many happenings in his career at the present time.
Jose Santana Jr.: How did you come to the decision that you wanted to sign with the Espinoza Boxing Club as your management team?
Abner Mares: It was pretty easy. My dad [Ismael Mares] was my manager and we were just looking for a little help as far as experience. Frank Espinoza is known to be a great manager. He has Israel Vasquez and a lot of other fighters who he has developed so it wasn’t that hard of a decision to make. He’s a great mentor and a great person to have in my corner.
JS: What do you think of what Frank has done with the careers of Israel Vazquez and Martin Castillo and did that play a role in your decision?
AM: That was one of the factors of why we chose him. We had Golden Boy helping us out as far as choosing some names and Frank Espinoza just popped up. He was the big one of so many and we decided to stay with him.
JS: They had a barbeque last week for all the fighters at Frank’s house, did you get to attend and how was it getting to know the rest of the fighters on the team and what do you think of the overall experience?
AM: It was great! I didn’t think all the fighters were going to be there. Frank just told me they were having a little barbeque at his house and asked if I could come. As soon as I got there he introduced me to most of the fighters that he works with and they’re all real nice guys – very nice! They are all young guys too. I think the oldest one is maybe twenty-six. I blended in right away and they’re a real cool crowd.
JS: So is that one of the things then that attracted you about Frank; his charisma and how personable he is? He likes to make all his fighters feel welcome and as a part of the ‘family.’
AM: Yes. I didn’t know much about Frank as a person. I just heard about Frank Espinoza because of Israel Vasquez since that’s the main fighter he has right now. Now, knowing him and getting to know him as a person he really is a great guy. His fighters, the way they look at him and talk to him with so much respect and admiration, it gives you that idea that he is that type of manager. He doesn’t just play the part as a manager, but as a friend too.
JS: Your fight scheduled for July 18th was cancelled due to the postponement of the Mayweather-Marquez fight, how disappointed were you and have you heard anything from Frank or Golden Boy about your next match and when you’re looking to get in the ring again?
AM: Yes, I was disappointed because we were training well and looking forward to this fight. I had just come back from my surgery [torn retina] and had not boxed for a year and this was going to be my first fight with Frank Espinoza. So we were all looking forward to that fight and the cancellation just killed it for all of us. But, I think Golden Boy and Frank are going to be looking for somewhere they can put me in. They had mentioned the Rocky Juarez [vs. Chris John] card if it was going to be cancelled and moved to July, but they did not cancel it. But we’ll definitely fight before September when the Mayweather-Marquez fight is rescheduled for. They asked me if I wanted to stay on the card and wait until then but I said no, I want to fight already. So I think they are looking for a fight for late July or August.
JS: Recently your trainer Nacho Beristain has decided not to train you anymore. What is the reasoning behind this?
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Shortly after signing with the Espinoza Boxing Club [Frank Espinoza] as his manager later that month, Mares’ trainer, Ignacio “Nacho” Beristain informed him that he would no longer be working with him. Mares, a 2004 Mexican Olympian, who now resides in Montebello, California, was not discouraged by either of these occurrences and is ready to get back into the ring. He carries and impressive amateur background, which includes numerous medals and over one-hundred wins, including a gold medal victory over Juan Manuel Lopez in the 2002 Central American & Caribbean Games. He travelled between Mexico and the USA in order to represent his country of birth in the Olympics, and has taken that same work ethic into his pro career.
Mares, promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, is now eager to make his Espinoza Boxing debut. Though a scheduled July 18 fight on the Mayweather-Marquez undercard was cancelled, he still feels that now is finally his time and knows he’ll prove it soon. In an exclusive interview with SecondsOut, Mares talks about the aformentioned and the many happenings in his career at the present time.
Jose Santana Jr.: How did you come to the decision that you wanted to sign with the Espinoza Boxing Club as your management team?
Abner Mares: It was pretty easy. My dad [Ismael Mares] was my manager and we were just looking for a little help as far as experience. Frank Espinoza is known to be a great manager. He has Israel Vasquez and a lot of other fighters who he has developed so it wasn’t that hard of a decision to make. He’s a great mentor and a great person to have in my corner.
JS: What do you think of what Frank has done with the careers of Israel Vazquez and Martin Castillo and did that play a role in your decision?
AM: That was one of the factors of why we chose him. We had Golden Boy helping us out as far as choosing some names and Frank Espinoza just popped up. He was the big one of so many and we decided to stay with him.
JS: They had a barbeque last week for all the fighters at Frank’s house, did you get to attend and how was it getting to know the rest of the fighters on the team and what do you think of the overall experience?
AM: It was great! I didn’t think all the fighters were going to be there. Frank just told me they were having a little barbeque at his house and asked if I could come. As soon as I got there he introduced me to most of the fighters that he works with and they’re all real nice guys – very nice! They are all young guys too. I think the oldest one is maybe twenty-six. I blended in right away and they’re a real cool crowd.
JS: So is that one of the things then that attracted you about Frank; his charisma and how personable he is? He likes to make all his fighters feel welcome and as a part of the ‘family.’
AM: Yes. I didn’t know much about Frank as a person. I just heard about Frank Espinoza because of Israel Vasquez since that’s the main fighter he has right now. Now, knowing him and getting to know him as a person he really is a great guy. His fighters, the way they look at him and talk to him with so much respect and admiration, it gives you that idea that he is that type of manager. He doesn’t just play the part as a manager, but as a friend too.
JS: Your fight scheduled for July 18th was cancelled due to the postponement of the Mayweather-Marquez fight, how disappointed were you and have you heard anything from Frank or Golden Boy about your next match and when you’re looking to get in the ring again?
AM: Yes, I was disappointed because we were training well and looking forward to this fight. I had just come back from my surgery [torn retina] and had not boxed for a year and this was going to be my first fight with Frank Espinoza. So we were all looking forward to that fight and the cancellation just killed it for all of us. But, I think Golden Boy and Frank are going to be looking for somewhere they can put me in. They had mentioned the Rocky Juarez [vs. Chris John] card if it was going to be cancelled and moved to July, but they did not cancel it. But we’ll definitely fight before September when the Mayweather-Marquez fight is rescheduled for. They asked me if I wanted to stay on the card and wait until then but I said no, I want to fight already. So I think they are looking for a fight for late July or August.
JS: Recently your trainer Nacho Beristain has decided not to train you anymore. What is the reasoning behind this?
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