Three-division world champion Abner Mares revealed he had emergency surgery for a detached retina.
Mares appeared on the most recent edition of "Inside PBC Boxing" with his right eye completely covered due to surgery and revealed the events that led to the injury. Mares revealed that the injury had occurred during sparring in late January and underwent surgery on January 30. The interview can be seen in the video at the top of the page.
“I got hit in the eye. I felt the pain, but I went through it. I still sparred. I came back on Friday [January 25] for another sparring session, I got hit again. It’s a contact sport. And my eye got super red. And it was that Friday and Saturday [January 25 and 26] where I started seeing clouds and just blurred vision and I told my wife and my wife was like, ‘You got to get it checked.’ I said, 'No, I’m good.' Friday [January 28] came and I was gonna go to the gym. I had another sparring session ready for Friday [January 28], but my wife insisted I go see the doctor. So, she won and I went to the doctor. He said, 'Abner, you have a detached retina. You’re not gonna be able to fight,'" Mares said.
The 33-year-old Mares was supposed to fight WBA "Super" super featherweight champion Gervonta Davis on February 9, but it was announced on January 30 that Mares was forced to withdraw from the fight, The official announcement from PBC and Mayweather Promotions stated that Mares suffered a right elbow injury and made no mention of a detached retina. In the interview with PBC's Kate Abdo, Mares said he did have a bad elbow, but the severity of the injury was not enough for Mares to withdraw from the fight.
Earlier today, Mares posted a video on his Twitter account detailing his life right after surgery. The video can be seen below.
ONLY GOD KNOW WHY ---- pic.twitter.com/G6aFTm7lhZ
— ABNER MARES (@abnermares) February 3, 2019
With Mares out, Hugo Ruiz was announced as Davis' new opponent for February 9. Ruiz had fought only a couple of weeks ago when he fought on the pay-per-view card for Manny Pacquiao vs. Adrien Broner in Las Vegas, defeating Alberto Guevara by unanimous decision.
Fightful spoke to both Davis and Ruiz about their upcoming matchup, still scheduled to headline the Showtime Championship Boxing broadcast from Carson, California. Videos of Fightful speaking to the two fighters can be seen below.
