Ares style may have been more solid but that's where Apollo was hoping to find his weakness, plunging in with a combination of fast punches before switched abruptly to a wrestling move instead and slamming Ares body to the ground. "How about that, bonehead?" he growled, but the strength of Ares as he thrashed meant Apollo couldn't pin him there more than a couple of seconds. He was gratified to know he was still able to do it; wrestling was how he'd beaten Ares in at the first Games, after all - stood to reason he could take him by surprise.
And then Ares got him so hard in the side Apollo felt something crack and he reeled backward. The moment he took to make sure he could still breath was a moment Ares took for his own, and rushed at him, putting Apollo on the defensive as he backed him around the ring.