Golden Boy seems lost on who Mares is suppose to fight next. All of the best fighters @ 122 and 126 are over at Top Rank. Rigo and Donaire @ 122 and Mikey Garcia and Salido @ 126 Who is Mares suppose to fight now, don't give me that mini margarita Santa Cruz because he just moved up to 122. And what happens if he fights Mikey Garcia or Salido?
I see three options that would make for good fights. One is long time champion Chris John that would be my first choice. Then theres two lesser known options but both have the potential to be future stars. One is Gary Russell Jr and the other is El Abejon Fortuna. Any of these three would be great IMO.
I'd take Mares over Salido and Garcia too, but the latter is more intriguing. I'd love to see Rigo-Mares, that's the shame with him moving up. I think Donaire would still beat Mares IMO. Mares' is great but he's vulnerable for the uppercut. Donaire is a great counter-puncher that should be able to time him.
I'm thinking the same thing, nobody really for Mares to fight if he stops will Golden Boy (which he said he would after the fight) If he wants to fight John he best be prepared to do it in Asia. They will probably let the Santa Cruz fight brew for at least a year yet. I believe Salido has or is going to move up in weight, Garcia is Top Rank and is to fight JuanMa Lopez in June as far as I'm aware. If I was to guess I'd say he fights Johnny Gonzalez next, which I don't care much for to be honest
Judging by Salido going down a combined 6 or 7 times in just the Haya, Juanma II, and Mikey fights, I really think his chin would get cracked and he'd get stopped. Mares showed power against Ponce I've never seen from him at all before.
Juanma and Mikey are bigger punchers than Mares, especially Juanma. Saido and Juanma are more skilled than Ponce De Leon, aand although Mares won the fight, he did still take his fair share of beating from Ponce. I honestly don't know how Mares will fare. Hopefully well.
Let us not speak of Leo Santa Cruz vs Rigo or Mares yet. Leo does need to fight better opposition, but not THAT good opposition yet, nor a top fighter at 126lbs (Mares).
Well the belts are split between Garcia, John and Mares. Santa Cruz could well pick up the ibf belt. I think Garcia is number 1 atm. John is too old and Mares hasn't beennat the weight long enough. Salido and JuanMa round off a cracking list of 6 names at the top of the division. Mares was the best bw but his pitstop at sbw never saw him clinch top spot. See if he can fare better at feather - beating ponce doesn't convince me yet but I say he's still in the top 6 somewhere. Amazing talent who will fight anyone. Had some very close fights but as stated, he's took on a variety of styles. Maybe Donaire will move up and challenge him, it's a really exciting division right now. LSC, Mares and Garcia are all young. Salido and John represent a tough veteran challenge also. Easily one of the best divisions today.
Wasn't Jayson Velez supposed to fight the winner of the Mares/Ponce fight. I'd like to see Mares fight Velez in September. I mean the guy got skipped for a title shot because he got injured. I'd think they would put him back in the running unless he's still injured.
