Abner has a lot to work on

He's a good fighter but being careless is eventually gonna be the end of him he took a great win away from himself and got a tainted belt by not being careful and respecting his opponent... He needs someone to punish him so he may learn or he will continue this sloppiness... he has great potential but needs direction and someone to be strict with him.

 

mares was susceptible to the jab all night, I wish Agbeko would have thrown in more. Nice combinations by mares at times, he put them together beautifully.
Agbeko was too wild tonight with his punches and hooks, its what unfortunately gave him a KO in the 4th round even though he slipped and was nicked by a punch by the rules they still have to call it a knockdown. Had this been a clean fight, its possible Agbeko could have won or maybe even a late stoppage.

On a side note good job by Mares protecting his body for most of the fight, preventing Agbeko from going downstairs and wearing Mares out early.

 

He has the habit of putting his chin up whenever he throws punches similar to his Ghanian countryman Johsua Clottey.

His slapping wide hook had me worried that he would get countered, hurt, and knocked down.

 

One of the big things I saw was that Mares got a little too excited in the early rounds, and spent a little too much energy when he was landing early on Agbeko. Another thing was that big overhand right got Abner's attention (it's a testament to his chin that he wasn't dropped by it). That punch started making Abner a little more tentative, but throwing as much as he did early also slowed Mares down in the latter stages of the fight. That made it easier for Agbeko to start landing and doubling up on that jab and landing right hands along with it.

I wasn't expecting to see that tonight; usually Mares is a strong finisher, but it seemed like the only thing that rejuvenated him was the short break from the low-blow knockdown.

 

he does not know how to block or parry a jab at all. He got tagged at will

 

<iframe width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/X_FT_kc0wyY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Here he is punching balls for a living

 

No problem, I'm trying to step my posting game up a bit. Lord knows I've had enough bull**** posts to develop. :good

Not to put the focus of the fight back on the lowblows, but another thing I've noticed that's a bit troubling is that Mares is beginning to rely so much on them, not just mixed in with clean bodyshots, but as a way out when things aren't going his way.

Throwing them tactically isn't going to earn him any fans, but from an effectiveness standpoint, he could always control it if a ref ever really calls him on it. If he falls into the bad habit of throwing them out of frustration, which I feel he may be, he's going to start throwing them as a reflex, which is much harder to control the more he leans on it. That could cost him dearly if it's anyone but his hand-picked ref calling the action, or he's facing someone more willing to retaliate.