Ruiz vs Ortiz video highlights and results: Abner Mares gets draw in comeback fight, Edwin De Los Santos shocks Jose Valenzuela

Abner Mares had to settle for a draw in his comeback fight tonight on the Ruiz vs Ortiz undercard, with he and Miguel Flores winding up even on two of three official scorecards.

Judges scored the fight 95-95 on two cards, with the third edging it 96-94 to Mares. Bad Left Hook had it 95-95 on our unofficial card, as well.

Our live coverage for Ruiz vs Ortiz continues, click here!

Mares, who hadn’t fought in four years, is 36 years old, was coming off of eye surgeries that could have easily ended his career, and was fighting very heavy at 135 lbs, had a fast start, and for three rounds looked like he’d be able to do the business in his questionable return to action.

But Mares (31-3-2, 15 KO) just couldn’t keep the pedal to the metal the way he started, and by the fourth his output had slowed considerably. He also didn’t seem able to really hurt Flores (25-4-1, 12 KO), who is a few steps below a world-class fighter, but had a clear edge just in being a more natural fighter at this weight.

Don’t forget that Mares’ absolute best years were spent at 118 and 122 lbs — that made a difference here, because when Mares couldn’t get Flores out in those first three rounds, he conditioning betrayed him. He’d noted before the fight that he didn’t do any running in camp, and that may have been the absolute biggest difference-maker here. He just didn’t have the gas tank as the fight wore on to hold Flores off enough and get the win.

Now that we’re past the immediate concern about Mares’ eye, we can say that he looked OK in this fight, but honestly, not like someone who has any real upside if he continues to fight, especially if he were to continue over 126 lbs.

But if he goes out with this one — and it’s not the result he wanted, of course, but it’s also not a loss — then he goes out on his terms, not retired by an injury.

Edwin De Los Santos TKO-3 Jose Valenzuela

A pretty huge reality check for the 23-year-old Valenzuela, who takes his first L in frankly pretty demoralizing fashion. It’s not that he got beat or even that he got stopped, it’s that he was just taken to pieces by De Los Santos, who came in on short notice this week, replacing Jezzrel Corrales, who had visa issues.

De Los Santos (15-1, 14 KO) certainly had the record of a power threat, but he was a huge underdog here. Valenzuela (12-1, 8 KO) got a look at the speed and power of the 22-year-old De Los Santos in round one, and it had to be an eye-opener.

In the second, things got wild, as De Los Santos got caught and dropped, but came right back and overwhelmed Valenzuela, sending him to the canvas, too. On that knockdown, De Los Santos hit Valenzuela late, so he also got a point deducted, but he continued to do damage.

The third saw Valenzuela dropped again, and then referee Ray Corona followed up on his warning, stopping it as soon as De Los Santos cracked Valenzuela with another clean shot, a left hand to the head.

Valenzuela just looked horrible defensively here, incapable of avoiding shots. More than “not taking the punches well,” it’s that Valenzuela was getting hit with everything, and he couldn’t do much about it. It’s a huge shot to his stock as a prospect, obviously, and a good bump for De Los Santos, whose only loss was an eight-round split decision in January to William Foster III.