1. Abner Mares vs. Jhonny Gonzalez
Jhonny Gonzalez’s knockout of Abner Mares is at the top of my list because the story in which this knockout was involved ended with a bit of poetic justice.
As often is the case, boxing promoters believe they can control the world around them, picking and choosing opponents beforehand as if their fighters are perfect and impermeable to defeat.
Before this fight, Golden Boy Promotions was already looking past Gonzalez towards a possible super fight with Leo Santa Cruz.
Naturally, upon hearing this, Jhonny Gonzalez was furious.
In a Yahoo Sports article he is quoted as saying that “They were treating me like a steppingstone for Mares and were making plans for a Santa Cruz fight before [he even fought] me.”
Golden Boy had already deemed Gonzalez as defeated. They swiftly looked past the record of a man who, at that point, had forty six knockouts.
It is a lesson Golden Boy hadn’t learned from the fight between Victor Ortiz and Josesito Lopez, and it is one that they still likely haven’t learned from.
Despite all of this, the man who was not given chance ended up winning.
Gonzalez leaned as if he were aiming for a left hook to the body. Mares took the bait and dropped his hand. Gonzalez landed a left hook with full power that sent both Mares and his eyes tumbling backwards.
Gonzales finished the fight with a flurry, but it was clear that Mares didn’t recover from the first left hand.
It was a knockout that many did not expect.
