Can Mijares Get Back Into It

For two years, from September 2006 until November 2008, 115 Christian Mijares was a rising star. In that period he squeaked by #7 ranked Katsushige Kawashima, dominated #6 Jorge Arce, beat #9 ranked Jose Navarro (in one of the bizarrely scored fights in history) and despite what the cards say, dominated Alexander Munoz, then the #2 ranked guy in the division. He was beginning to appear on p4p lists. Mijares was smooth, a boxer's boxer and a southpaw.

Then the roof fell in in the form of a Vic Darchynian uppercut in the first round of their match from which Mijares never recovered. Darchynian, in his best performance as a pro, dismantled the Mexican and delivered an extended beating, stopping Mijares in nine.

Mijares' comeback fight was even more shocking. Fighting in Mexico at 118, an unknown and unbeaten Panamanian named Nehomar Cermeno took a pair of decisions. Now it turns out Cermeno, who lost a pair of razor close decisions to the #2 ranked bantam in the world, Anselmo Moreno, is pretty darned good.

Since then Mijares has righted the ship, at least a little bit. He beat a couple of journeymen, got a tight win over Jorge Arce's little brother Fransisco and won a strap by beating #4 ranked Juan Alberto Rosas and is now ranked #7 at 115.

The question is can Mijares make some noise at 29? Could he handle a Cazares (arguably a lot like Vic) or a Tomas Rojas (another Vic Victim) or a Nobu Nasahiro (who just lost a close fight with Rojas and whose other losses are to Munoz and Cazares).

What I'd LOVE to see is him travel to Argentina and take on the unbeaten Argentine Omar Narvaez. A win over Narvaez would firmly re-establish Mijares.

What's your take on Mijares?