On Thursday night, young bantamweight contender Abner Mares co-headlines the next edition of 'Fight Night Club' at Club Nokia at the L.A. Live versus Carlos Fulgencio. It's another step towards his first title shot. But Mares isn't getting impatient by any means. In fact, he's counting his blessings just to be fighting at all. Because right around this time last year, he believed his boxing career was over. Before a routine eye examination before a fight scheduled for last autumn, he was given some stunning news. He had retinal damage in his left eye. The news left Mares stunned. "I was seeing perfectly, everything was normal until that one day I went to do my physical before a fight, which was in October of last year. I went to the doctor and they said I had a detached retina," recalled Mares. "They checked it real good and they told me I had a torn retina and I wouldn't be able to fight." Mares admits that,"At first, torn retina, I didn't even know what that was. Then the doctor said, 'I have to do surgery on you, today.' That same day I had surgery done. So yeah, I was stunned." And the prognosis was not promising. His physician was blunt in his assessment. "The minute he said that, the first thing I asked the doctor was,' Can I fight?' And he said,' I don't think you'll be able to fight, at all. "I went blank. It was hard," Mares recounted. Just like that, at age 22, Mares faced the prospect of having to find a new line of work. And boxing isn't just what he did, in many respect, like many other participants of this sports, it's who they are. http://maxboxing.com/Kim/Kim082509.asp http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Mr5uoCF8E4
