Canelo Alvarez gave up and defeated a determined opponent but outlasted Jaime Munguia by unanimous decision to retain his undisputed 168-pound championship.
The official scores are 117-110, 116-111 and 115-112. Boxing Junkie also leads 117-110 for Alvarez, nine rounds to three.
Munguia (43-1, 34 KOs) threw more punches than Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs) but landed at a relatively low rate, a result of the champion’s defense.
Meanwhile, Alvarez, who values precision over volume, landed harder, cleaner shots.
One of those clean shots came in Round 4, a right uppercut that put Munguia on the canvas for the first time in his career.
However, Munguia will not allow that to be the beginning of the end. He continued to fight hard, was busier than Alvarez and found his target multiple times.
The younger fighter couldn’t do enough of that to win the fight.
You can read a full report This.
ROUND 12
Munguia showed so much heart and determination that I thought he would leave with his hands flying. That didn’t happen, perhaps sealing the victory for Alvarez. Munguia must have been exhausted. It was a tiring battle. Typical effort by Alvarez, good effort by Munguia.
ROUND 11
Neither guy did much in that round. A lot of punches missed. Munguia is busier than usual. Alvarez landed on position but barely dominated a close round. Alvarez had to take the lead but Munguia turned it into a real fight.
ROUND 10
Munguia may not be winning these rounds but he is certainly competitive. He threw more punches than Alvarez and some got through, including a memorable left hook. Once again, Alvarez was more accurate with his shots. Difficult to score points?
ROUND 9
Another solid round for Munguia, who was busy and landed some eye-catching shots. No one will question his heart, his stamina or his chin. However, Alvarez is still the more accurate puncher. And his shots were clearly harder than Munguia’s. The challenger did not hurt Alvarez at all.
ROUND 8
The round was a little better for Munguia, who landed a lot of punches. I’m not sure how many landed but such a large number didn’t give Alvarez a chance to fire back. When Munguia took a break, Alvarez did a good job.
ROUND 7
Class from Alvarez. His punches are extremely accurate, regardless of the target. Give Munguia credit for scoring the best that Alvarez is doing but he has to go down. A body shot from Alvarez appeared to injure Munguia to some degree.
ROUND 6
Munguia is fighting hard. He was simply outmatched, like so many of Alvarez’s previous opponents. Munguia seemed a bit confused, as if he really didn’t know how to proceed. Alvarez is picking him apart and getting very little in return. The end may come sooner rather than later.
ROUND 5
Alvarez is in charge. Munguia, recovered from the knockdown, went back to work by punching in large numbers. The problem for him is that he can’t land cleanly against Alvarez’s defense. Meanwhile, the champion is choosing beautiful positions, launching solid, neat shots.
ROUND 4
Get down, Munguia! Alvarez knocked him out with a perfect right uppercut with about 40 seconds left in the round. He did not appear to be seriously injured but it was difficult to tell. They had some nice back and forth action before that dramatic moment.
ROUND 3
OH! The end of that round was wild as Munguia landed some big, clean shots. He fired that shot and had some early success. Alvarez, more interested in precision than volume, responded by delivering some eye-catching shots before the exciting finish.
ROUND 2
They mixed it up that round. Munguia continued to rush in but he also held his ground, leading to some interesting exchanges. The problem for Munguia was that Alvarez seemed to avoid most of his punches while landing some of his own, including stiff body shots.
ROUND 1
Not much happened until the end of the round. Munguia probably won the round with his jab, although not many landed it cleanly. Alvarez lands a few shots to the body. They opened up in the final exchanges, perhaps giving us a preview of what’s to come.
***
The fighters have entered the ring, about to be introduced. We’re just Canelo Alvarez vs. Jaime Munguia in a few minutes.
***
Welterweight contender Mario Barrios knocked out and defeated defensive-minded Fabian Maidana by unanimous decision in a 12-round bout. All three official judges had the same score, 116-111, eight rounds to four.
Both fighters were not particularly active.
Barrios (29-2, 18 KO) stalked Maidana (22-3, 16 KO) for most of the fight but his feet were busier than his hands, as he mostly threw single punches. .
The winner also fought through a swollen right eye late in the fight, which didn’t help matters.
Meanwhile, Maidana, Marcos Maidana’s brother, only fought briefly. He spent most of his time in survival mode instead of taking the risks necessary to win the biggest battle of his career.
The most dramatic moment came in Round 3, when Barrios landed a weak jab and then a perfect right that sent Maidana to the canvas.
The Argentinian player was not seriously injured and quickly stood up. However, that experience may have contributed to his reluctance to mix it up.
The result is a boring fight.
Barrios has won three straight since losing back-to-back losses to Keith Thurman (UD) and Gervonta Davis (TKO 8). He had a strong performance in September, easily outpointing former champion Yordenis Ugas.
Barrios is defending his “interim” WBC title.
***
Featherweight contender Brandon Figueroa knocked out Jessie Magdaleno with a left to the body in the ninth round of their scheduled 12-round fight.
The official overtime is 2:59.
The skillful Magdaleno (29-3, 18 KOs) started strong, attacking quickly when there was an opening and then holding or using quick feet to prevent Figueroa from getting into a rhythm.
However, around the fourth or fifth round, Figueroa began to increase his work rate and land more consistently. Magdaleno remained competitive but he also began to slow down, an obvious result of Figueroa’s pressure.
The ending is brutal. Figueroa was pounding Magdaleno against the ropes when he missed a perfect left to the stomach in the final seconds of Round 9, sending Magdaleno to his knees in pain.
He got back to his feet, giving Figueroa (25-1-1, 19 KOs) his third straight victory since being eliminated by Stephen Fulton in 2021.
Figueroa had to overcome more than one capable opponent on Saturday. Magdaleno was 2.6 pounds heavier than the division limit, after which he and Figueroa reached an agreement that allowed the fight to continue.
And Figueroa hasn’t played in 14 months, which may have contributed to his slow start.
***
Welterweight contender Eimantas Stanionis defeated Gabriel Maestre by a one-sided unanimous decision in a 12-round fight, retaining the secondary title.
The official scores are 119-109, 118-110 and 117-111.
Stanionis (15-0, 9 KOs), who is returning after a two-year layoff, and Maestre (6-1-1, 5 KOs) landed a similar number of punches. However, Stanionis’s shots are more accurate and neat.
And Maestre had no answer for Stanionis’ jab to the loser’s face all night.
***
Junior middleweight contender Jesus Ramos stopped Johan Gonzalez in the ninth round of the scheduled 10-round bout.
Ramos (21-1, 17 KOs) knocked out Gonzalez (34-3, 33 KOs) with a powerful left head kick followed by a series of powerful shots that forced referee Harvey Dock to stop the fight.
Ramos is coming off a controversial unanimous decision loss to Erickson Lubin in September.
***
Middleweight contender Vito Mielnicki defeated Ronald Cruz by unanimous decision in a 10-round fight. The official scores are 99-89, 98-90 and 96-92.
Mielnicki (18-1, 12 KOs) knocked out Cruz (19-4-1, 12 KOs) in the third and fourth rounds.
The New Jersey fighter has now won 10 straight fights since being eliminated by James Martin in 2021.
***
Canelo Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KOs) is intended to protect his undisputed 168-pound championship against Jaime Munguia (43-0, 34 KOs) tonight (Saturday) on DAZN pay-per-view from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Also on the show:
- Mario Barrios fights Fabian Maidana, welterweight
- Brandon Figueroa vs. Jessie Magdaleno, featherweight
- Eimantas Stanionis vs. Gabriel Maestre, welterweight
- Jesus Ramos vs. Johan Gonzalez, middleweight boxer
- Vito Mielnicki fights Ronald Cruz, middleweight boxer.
The show’s highlights are scheduled to begin at 8pm ET/5pm PT. (main event later in the show).
Boxing Junkie will post round-by-round analysis of the main event and results of featured fights, as well as brief recaps immediately after the fight ends. Simply come back to this post and refresh when the time comes.
Full coverage – detailed fight stories, analysis and more – will appear on separate posts the night of the card and the day after.
Enjoy the battles!
