Jhonny Gonzalez came, saw and conquered Abner Mares in less than one round Saturday night before 7,686 loud and enthusiastic fans at the Stub Hub Center in Carson, California. In the aftermath of such a surprising and devastating knockout by the aged Gonzalez, I tweeted “there has to be a PED claim against Jhonny coming” and by chance on my timeline a well known and respected boxing scribe who has been on the forefront of PED’s in boxing happened to tweet a question about Gonzalez and who was his S & C (strength and conditioning) coach in Mexico.
While my tweet was said in jest, and there is no evidence to say the Gonzalez had in fact used PED’s, in this day and age of sports, athletes are almost guilty until proven innocent. PED’s are a very big concern in professional sports and while there is improvements in testing in the major sports, MLB and NFL specifically, sports such as boxing and MMA have been playing russian roulette with their respective sports.
There is no single governing body in boxing to oversee professional boxers as there is in the NFL, so boxing is left to police themselves. A good old fashion wild west, an honor system of sorts. Between, boxing promoters and state athletic commissions there is little consistency between any of them when it comes to drug testing. Personal agendas, politics and good ol’ bravado by fighters along with allocating money to drug testing fighters for more than the common drugs (marijuana/documented steroids) is deemed too difficult and expensive, or at least that is what a majority of people would like the fans to believe.
However there is far more money to be lost when a fighter is caught cheating than if a positive test is swept under the rug and all parties look the other way. Just ask Erik Morales.
Which comes back to the fight this past Saturday night. Jhonny Gonzalez and his knockout win over the previously unbeaten Abner Mares was very surprising, more so because Mares had never been hurt like he was and obviously demolished in such a manner. Yet, Gonzalez did exactly that- with a perfect left hook. For the naysayers and fans that question Gonzalez and his win, all you would need to do is look at Jhonny’s record. 47 KO’s in 63 bouts; add the fact that Gonzalez’s trainer is the highly respected Nacho Bernstein, a trainer who is one of the best in the business and other than Gonzalez being an old 31 year old in the ring, one punch is all it takes.
Mares learned that the hard way along with the 46 before him that Gonzalez had the power to stop them. However as Mares stated “as you learn how to win, you got to learn how to lose” and Saturday night it was not meant to be; that’s part of being a fighter, taking risks and sometimes it doesn’t workout the way you hoped. Mares will be back, “I want to fight the best, if I can get a rematch or even a tougher fight, I’m ready” but that won’t come for a few months as Mares is looking to take some time off and spend it with family.
So where does this put Gonzalez now that he is champion once again? Mikey Garcia or Evgeny Gradovish would be my two wishes, other than a rematch with Mares. However depending on how much Goldenboy Promotions if any are involved with Gonzalez now that he won, the first two options are probably out. My gut feeling is that Gonzalez won’t be champion for long. However today and in the near future, he is and he earned this win with a beautiful left hook and then some.