Mares received crash course in human behavior after injury

Abner Mares once approached boxing with unbridled love and passion. Now, after a year away from the sport revealed the fleeting nature of loyalty, he’s more a businessman than a blind devotee.

Only about a year ago, the 2004 Mexican Olympian who lives in Norwalk, Calif., was on the cusp of fighting for his first major world title. And everyone loves a winner, particularly when you can gain something from being around one.

Then Mares received news that turned his life upside down: After a routine exam, he was diagnosed with a detached retina and told his career was over. Naturally, he was devastated by the news; he suddenly faced a life of uncertainty.

And, perhaps just as painful, he saw people who had always supported him slip away when it appeared he was finished.

That later included Nacho Beristain, although for a different reason. The renowned Mexican trainer dumped Mares because of his strained relationship with the fighter’s new co-manager, Frank Espinoza, leaving Mares feeling betrayed.

Thus, while Mares, 23, is grateful that the doctor proved to be wrong about the end of his career, some of the enthusiasm with which he always approached boxing – along with some of the joy – has evaporated into a lot of hot air.

“I look at boxing way different,” said Mares, who fights Carlos Fulgencio in the main event of Fight Night Club on Thursday at Club Nokia in L.A. “People are there when you’re a fighter because they want something. They’re like groupies. Supposedly they’re your friends but they’re not.

“A lot of people put me aside when that happened. I don’t believe so-called friends in boxing anymore. I look at it as a business now. I don’t get emotional anymore; now it’s a job.”

Mares will always be grateful to boxing, which helped lift his family out of poverty. His mother, who is also his idol, brought her seven children from Mexico to Hawaiian Gardens, Calif., and worked two jobs to support them.

And all his years of fighting were about to pay off in a big way late last year, when he was expected to face then-bantamweight titleholder Gerry Penalosa on the undcard of Oscar De La Hoya-Manny Pacquiao on Dec. 6.

Then came the detached retina diagnosis, which instantly put his career and welfare of his family in serious jeopardy.

“I didn’t even know what a detached retina was,” Mares said. “I said, ‘Doctor, what is it?’ I asked whether I’d be able to fight because I had one scheduled for October. He said, ‘I think you’re done.’ I was like, ‘Whoa.’ And he said we need to do surgery today, that same day. I said, ‘Are you serious?’ I thought everything was over.

“It was really hard. I had planned out my life. I had a world-championship fight coming up. I had a family. I was married, with a daughter. I had responsibilities. To hear that my career was over … hey, boxers, we’re human. I cried, man.”

Mares had no choice but to rethink his future. What would he do? He actually worked a short time as a security guard while he tried to adjust to his misfortune and contemplate how he would feed his family.

He also earned his high school degree and started taking classes at a local community college, first steps toward what he hoped would help him make a decent living.

All the while, he leaned heavily on those closest to him – his family, his life-long friends. Almost everyone else had disappeared.

“They just weren’t there when they thought my career was over. I learned a lot,” he said.

However, those difficult days were short lived. The doctor who performed Mares’ surgery told the fighter a few weeks later that he might be able to fight again after all, which to him sounded like a miracle. During the healing process, in which he had to apply ointment every day to keep his eye moist, he nervously pestered the doctor about his future.

And, when it became clear the eye was healed, he finally heard the magic words: He could begin training again.

“I asked the doctor every day, ‘Doctor, am I able to fight?’” Mares said. “He’d say, ‘Hold on.’ ‘Doctor, am I able to fight?’ ‘Not yet.’ Finally, four, five months after the surgery, the doctor said, ‘Abner, I have great news for you: You can start training.

“That was a big step forward. I was really happy.”

When Mares arrived at Beristain's gym in Mexico City for the first time since his surgery, it was like a starving man at a smorgasbord. He remembers running around hitting everything, the bags, the mitts, whatever he could find.

Sparring was a different. The bags can’t hit back but sparring partners do. Mares can laugh about his first full-contact sparring session now but it wasn’t funny at the time.

“It was horrible,” he said. “I didn’t throw a punch; I was just covering up. The kid was punching me and I was just blocking. I was afraid to throw a punch because I thought I’d get hit in the eye. I kept going to sparring, though, and my confidence came back.

“It took about three, four sparring sessions before I was comfortable. I remember Nacho saying, ‘Hey Abner, it takes guts for someone to come back from an eye problem.’ I just took it day to day.”

Day to day led to his first fight back, a scheduled eight-round fight against Jonathan Perez on the undercard of Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton on May 2 in Las Vegas. Mares stopped Perez in six rounds and was back in business.

And then came his next obstacle.

Mares and his father-manager, Ismael, who had joined his family a few years after they arrived in the U.S., decided it was time to seek a more-experienced advisor who could help take his career to the next level. They had always heard good things about Los Angeles-based Espinoza, who worked with Israel Vasquez among others. They met and a deal was struck.

There was a problem, though: Beristain, who trains and manages Rafael Marquez, and Espinonza are feuding. Beristain accused his counterpart of underplaying the severity of Vasquez’s eye injury during prolonged negotiations for Vasquez-Marquez IV, thus wasting Marquez’s valuable time.

Espinoza denies hiding the truth, countering that “Nacho knew Israel was hurt. If that was a concern, why did he wait around for us?”

However, the damage was done. Beristain refused to train Mares – with whom he worked for two years and seven fights -- as long as Espinoza was in the picture. Mares, now trained by Joel Diaz, still calls Beristain a friend but remains disappointed in him.

“Nacho is a great trainer,” Mares said. “I’m not taking anything away from him. I learned a lot with him. But what he did bothered me, kind of hurt me. (Golden Boy Promotions) had offered to get me a new coach if that’s what I wanted in the past. I didn’t do that, though. I looked into my heart and stayed with Nacho.

“Why couldn’t he look past the problem he had with Frank and stay with me? I’ll never understand that.”

Mares is perfectly happy with Diaz, a former fighter who also trains his brothers Antonio and Julio and Timothy Bradley in Coachella, Calif. After all, he’s used to changing trainers; he’s worked with several in his career.

And he’s perfectly happy that things worked out the way they did. Assuming he wins on Thursday, Golden Boy is planning to have him fight on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Juan Manuel Marquez on Sept. 19 in Las Vegas.

Then, THE RING's No. 7-rated bantamweight hopes, comes that title shot he thought he had last year.

“That’s my goal right now,” he said. “That’s why I train so hard. And if I win, of course, it will feel great. It will bring me a lot of joy because of what I went through. God gave me a second chance for a reason. I want to take advantage of it.

“Now I do it just for my family and for myself, not for anyone else. I’m still a little bit angry toward some people. I’m going to show these people that I’m back, that I’m not done.”


Michael Rosenthal can be reached at RingTVeditor@yahoo.com