by Andrew Fruman

In one of the best fights of the year so far, bantamweights Yonnhy Perez and Abner Mares battled to a twelve round majority draw at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.  The official scores were 114-114 twice, and 115-113 in favor of Abner Mares.

Showtime's press row were in agreement that the bout was close, but all 3 writers had Mares in front, by scores of 115-113 twice and a more lop-sided tally of 116-112.  Judging by the comments on twitter, the majority of observers were in agreement with the unofficial press-row tallies.

I was one of the rare scorers to actually have Perez out in front, with my live card favoring him by a 115-114 total.  I had a feeling I may have given Perez the benefit of the doubt in a couple close ones that possibly deserved to have gone to Mares, so I sat down after the fight to score it carefully...

Round 1

Mares easily took the opener. He landed some big right hands, and beat Perez to the punch with regularity.

10-9 Mares

Could this have gone the other way? No.

Round 2

Mares held a clear edge through the opening minute, but Perez forced the issue and did the better work over the next 60 seconds, that included a really nice right hand with about 1:05 left in the frame. Perez kept pressing, and it was almost dead even heading into the closing 30 seconds, but Mares showed a little more initiative and energy down the stretch to grab it.

10-9 Mares

Could this have gone the other way? Yes. While Mares was more active and landed a little more frequently, Perez forced the action and appeared to land the hardest punches of the round. If the option to score ½ point rounds was available, this would have been a prime candidate.

20-18 for Mares after 2

Round 3

Perez held the early edge, and while Mares fought back and did some nice work on the inside, the sharper shots for the most part appeared to be landed by Perez. Yohnny also landed a hard right hand - the best punch of the fight so far - right before the bell.

10-9 Perez

Could this have gone the other way? Maybe. Mares did some nice work, but he clearly lost the first part of the round when he was on the run, and when he did force the issue, it looked like he was outfought on the inside. If Mares had a claim to the round, running into that big shot at the bell certainly put a dent in it.

Mares with a 29-28 edge through 3

Round 4

This was a very strong round for Perez. He easily won the opening minute, and after Mares staged a mini-rally, he again took command and easily carried the final 90 seconds, landing plenty of heavy shots in the process.

10-9 Perez

Could this round have gone to Mares? No. He had a few good moments and landed his share of punches, but took by far the worst of it.

Perez evens it up, 38-38

Breakdown through 4…

Clear-cut rounds: 1-1

Close rounds: 1-1

Round 5

This was another very good round for Perez, and his advantage was even more pronounced than in the fourth. He worked both hands effectively, and the pressure looked like it was starting to tell on Mares who was on the run early, and again on the move late. When Abner did stand his ground during the middle of the round, he was outfought at close quarters.

10-9 Perez

Could this round have gone the other way? No.

Perez leads for the first time, 48-47.

Round 6

Watching live, I scored this round 10-10, but after watching it a few more times, Mares appears to have edged the session. Despite doing laps around the ring, Mares actually out-landed Perez over the first couple minutes. Granted, he was fighting off his back foot with little snap, but he was still getting home the majority of the clean shots. Over the last minute or so, Mares stood his ground a little more, and caught Perez with a nice counter right with about 45 seconds left, and stepped in with a nice flurry with 20 or so seconds to go. It wasn’t pretty, and the fans didn’t like the lack of action, but Mares did enough.

Mares 10-9

Could this round have gone the other way? Yes.

Neither fighter did a whole lot, and Perez did land the occasional single shot while coming forward. All those seconds that Mares spent circling from long range, unwilling to engage… those are moments that can arguably be scored for Perez. It depends how much credit a judge wants to give the fighter forcing the action, against an opponent that doesn’t want to mix it up.

All even again at 57-57.

Round 7

Perez stalked Mares from start to finish, landing a number of clean power shots in the process to easily take the round.

10-9 Perez

Could this have gone the other way? No. With about a minute to go, Showtime’s Al Bernstein suggested it was a close round, and a tough one for the judges. I was a little surprised by the comment and after scoring the round carefully, I have to say that Al was way off with his assessment. Perez landed just about all the significant punches, while pushing the pace. Perhaps the punch-stats numbers – which we heard WAY too much of on the broadcast may have been close - but in terms of effective blows, the round was won by a wide margin.

Perez is back in front, 67-66.

Round 8

Perez broke open a tightly contested round with a very strong final minute. As mentioned by the Showtime crew, Perez had his jab working nicely, but he also landed several solid right hands to earn a clear edge.

10-9 Perez

Could this round have gone the other way? No.

Perez with a little space now, up by 2 points at 77-75.

Breakdown through 8…

Clear-cut rounds: Perez 4-1

Close rounds: Mares 2-1

Round 9

This was a very tight round. Mares stood his ground a lot more, and it worked for him. Still, there was little in it, and the difference on this card came down to a very nice clean right hand landed by Mares with around 20 seconds left.

10-9 Mares

Could this round have gone the other way? It was very close, with the action even for most of the three minutes, so a case can definitely be made for Perez or 10-10. Plus, that clean right hand Mares landed, though flush, didn’t appear to bother Perez all that much. This is another of those rounds where it would be nice to have the ½ point option.

Perez still out in front by a 86-85 tally.

At this stage, the Showtime telecast gave us the press-row scoring. Two cards had Mares in front by a point, with the other having Perez leading by the same margin. Both Bernstein and analyst Antonio Tarver agreed with card favoring Perez.

Round 10

Mares pulled away down the stretch, winning an intensely fought round with a strong finish, keyed by some ripping hooks to the body. The opening two minutes featured some great back and forth action and Perez had plenty of moments including landing a very nice left hook at one stage, but he faded over the final minute. The body attack of Mares seeming to take some of the steam from the older fighter’s legs.

10-9 Mares

Could this round have gone the other way? I scored this round originally for Perez, as I felt his work over the first couple of minutes was enough to override the youngster’s finishing kick. Watching it again, I think I gave Perez a little too much credit for his early work and not enough to Mares for his body attack. It was close at one stage, but this was a definite Mares round.

All square at 95-95.

Round 11

This was the best round of the fight so far for Mares. He outfought Perez from bell to bell. In some of the earlier rounds, he was definitely quicker and busier, but at this stage he’s also by far the stronger of the two.

10-9 Mares

Could this round have gone the other way? No.

Mares takes the lead, 105-104.

Round 12

Another intensely fought round to close a great fight. Perez had the edge over the opening minute, landing a hard left hook with Mares along the ropes, and a nice right hand a little later. Mares came back very strong though over the next minute, landing some very good combinations to not only nullify the earlier deficit, but pull ahead. Mares added to that margin with a very strong finish, that included a heavy combination with about 10 seconds to go.

10-9 Mares

Could this round have gone the other way? No. Perez started well, but he was outfought by some ways over the last two minutes.

Final Score

115-113 for Abner Mares

I had both fighters winning 4 clear rounds each, with Mares decisively winning the 1st, 10th, 11th and 12th rounds and Perez commanding the 4th, 5th, 7th and 8th.

There were 4 very close ones, with my card favoring Mares 3-1 in these rounds.  Mares narrowly edged the 2nd, 6th and 9th, with Perez just taking the 3rd.

Closing Thoughts...

After a second, much closer look at the fight, I've got Mares ahead, but the difference was so slight - a punch or two here in the tight rounds - that the margin was hardly convincing.  He came on very strong down the stretch, and given his fresher appearance over the final rounds, I think it's tempting to say he was a clearer winner than he really was.  All in all, a draw was fair.

How did you have it?

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