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By winning the bantamweight tournament and previously facing Yonnhy Perez, Abner Mares faced some of the best fighters in the division. Unfortunately, he could not face the best in the division because of promotional issues. He's a Golden Boy fighter and he is not going to face Fernando Montiel or Nonito Donaire because they are Top Rank fighters. Now, Mares is moving up in weight to super bantamweight and taking on Eric Morel who has been fighting at bantamweight as well. In a recent interview with Jake Donovan, Mares explains why he is moving up in weight.
"The decision to move up in weight was made when the year began," Mares says of the thought process behind vacating his bantamweight title. "We were getting pressure from the IBF to face the mandatory (Vusi Malinga), but none of the networks were interested in that fight. So, we decided to move up to 122 lb. and now get the chance to win our second world title."
Mostly because the WBC is a terrible organization, this fight is for the vacant WBC super bantamweight title. The WBC recently stripped Toshiaki Nishioka of the title. Nishioka has been the titleholder since January 2009 and defended the title as recently as October of last year against Rafa Marquez.
Eric Morel is a Golden Boy fighter and that is pretty much the reason why is going to fight Abner Mares.
"I didn't know much about him until he signed with Golden Boy a little while ago," Mares admits. "I knew once he signed with Golden Boy and was fighting on my undercards that they planned to match us together eventually.
"Now it's happening. He hasn't lost in a while and knows what it's like to be champion. I'm not taking this fight lightly at all. I want to prove something by beating him and plan to use this opportunity to make a statement that I'm ready for the best at 122."
This fight will be on April 21st in El Paso. The fight will be carried on Showtime and will be at a 120 lb. catchweight. Do you guys think that this is or will be a decent fight?