Abner Mares v Anselmo Moreno

Mexican Abner Mares (25-0-1, 13) successfully retained his WBC Super Bantamweight title via a very controversial decision over Panamanian Anselmo Moreno (33-2-1, 12) with more than a little bit of help from referee Raul Caiz Jr who simply failed to be impartial. In fact it's fair to say that Caiz's job was almost as bad as that of Russell Mora who famously allowed Mares to get away with similar tactics against Joseph Agbeko.

The bout started very slowly with neither man taking control of the action in the opening few rounds. In fact the early rounds were highlighted by the fact that the fight failed to get going as the styles seemed to clash as opposed to gel. Sadly the issues with styles made the first few rounds very difficult to score as neither man really had any notable success.

In round 4 we sadly saw the start of the bouts controversy as Mares landed a very shot and instead of really telling Mares off, the referee decided that Moreno was to blame for the shot. Sadly Mares would land numerous low blows, at least double figures. Sadly it wasn't just the low blows that marred the bout but an awful knockdown call in favour of Mares in round 5, securing Mares a 10-8.

Following the knockdown Mares really started to step up the pressure and unleashing combinations to the body. Although Moreno slipped many of the shots going his way a fair few were landing, in fact Mares was getting more and more success as the bout went on. In round 7 however Caiz verbally warned Mares in fact stating "next time I'm taking a point" after another clear low blow. Sadly all subsequent low blows were ignored by Caiz despite Mares continuing to land them to the final bell on a semi-regular basis. Surprisingly however Caiz was more than happy to deduct a point from Moreno, with out a clear warning for holding the head down in round 10, further throwing coals on to the fire of Caiz being biased.

Mares continued to press the action late in the bout and although all the rounds were close it seemed that Mares had done enough to claim the bout, helped in part to the "knockdown" and deduction against Moreno. It had been close but those points had made things all but certain for Mares.

The scores were read out and unsurprisingly Mares was a winner by unanimous decision with 2 of the cards having the bout close but fair (116-110, 8 rounds to 4) however the final card was simply a joke that matched Caiz's refereeing giving Mares the bout 120-106.

Whilst it's easy to like Mares' style which is all action, it's impossible to like the number of breaks he gets. The fights with Vic Darchinyan, Joseph Agbeko (first fight) and now this one all raise eye brows as to the way they were officiated and scored and Mares may well be getting himself a reputation as one of Golden Boy's "protected" fighters in terms of officiating (though clearly not match making). If Mares gets to face Nonito Donaire, the fighter he called out after the bout, you can bet your bottom dollar that Bob Arum will want to be the promoter.

For Moreno it's likely he'll drop back to Bantamweight where he currently holds the WBA "super" title.