I will write another about the Lopez-Taylor fight as well as the title defense for IBF flyweight champion Sunny Edwards shortly.
The twelve-rounder from Golden Boy/DAZN from Ontario, California saw Dereyvanchenko push the pace and avoid his usual slow start but Munguia answer back with strong punches of his own in the early rounds with both fighters rocked at times without falling to the mat.
Dereyvanchenko was obviously the smaller fighter but was able to avoid the wider shots of Munguia to do valuable work on the bigger man and was able to jab his way inside Munguia to his credit.
Munguia had his moments in the first half of the fight and the fifth round will be in consideration for the round of the year when the awards are decided as both fighters landed right hands at will with Dereyvanchenko gaining a small edge.
The second half started slowly but began to pick up in the eighth round with Derevyvanchenko having Munguia in mild trouble in both the eighth and ninth.
The DAZN commentators throughout the fight referred to an offer made to Dereyvanchenko to reduce the fight from twelve to ten rounds for a reported six-figure sum that was turned down as Dereyvanchenko figured to have the advantage in the late rounds and didn't want to give that away.
Had that offer been accepted, Derevyanchenko would have been the winner by majority decision.
Munguia won the eleventh and landed a thumping body punch that sent Dereyvanachenko to one knee in the final round and seemed to be on his way to a stunning final-round knockout.
Dereyvanchenko managed to move away, pulled Munguia to the canvas along with himself, and by the end of the round had recovered enough to fend Munguia off with an occasional right hand.
In the end, it was another heartbreaking defeat for Dereyvanchenko as Munguia won a narrow unanimous decision with scores of 115-112 and 114-113 times two for the victor.
Had Dereyvanchenko not been knocked down in the last round, the fight would have ended in a majority draw.
I had Dereyvanchenko the winner at 114-113 but this was not a robbery just a close fight with reasonable scores.
While I feel bad for Dereyvanchenko for another achingly close defeat, the facts are that it has been his chin that let him down yet again in these close losses as he was dropped in losses to Daniel Jacobs and Gennady Golovkin.
The win is the best of Munguia's career and he announced a permanent move to the super middleweight division after the fight.
However, Munguia was punished by a smaller fighter and one not known for a tremendous amount of power, so it's fair to speculate how he will hold up in a division with Canelo Alvarez, David Benavidez, and David Morrell at its top.
Still, Munguia finished strong, pulled out a fight that he was losing, showed an incredible amount of heart in winning the bout, and he deserves a lot of credit for his effort, even if you thought Derevyvanchenko was the winner.
In the co-feature, veteran middleweight Shane Mosley Jr scored the biggest win of his career with a seventh-round stoppage of D'Mitrius Ballard in what was thought of before the fight as a possible showcase for a fight against Jaime Munguia in the future.
I'm not sure if that happens now that Munguia will stay in the 168-pound division but Mosley dominated the once-beaten Ballard, who had suffered his only loss in his previous fight against Munguia in three rounds last year, and could face an opponent in his next fight that would give Mosley a chance to improve himself in a weak middleweight division.
Ballard won the first two rounds on my card but Mosley began to grind Ballard down and scored a knockdown in the fifth round that Ballard never recovered from as Mosley finished Ballard in the seventh as the referee jumped in with Ballard taking punches along the ropes.
Ballard appears headed for journeyman status or will at least need to be rebuilt with a few lower-level opponents before he would face a top-twenty opponent.
The problem for Mosley, who is ranked 10th in the WBA and 13th by the WBC, is that Golden Boy Promotions really doesn't have an opponent that would help him rise higher in the ratings.
Mosley would have likely been a sizable underdog against Jaime Munguia but that would have given him a chance to face a name opponent and without Munguia in the division or a sanctioning body ordering an eliminator (unlikely for now), Mosley may be in a gray area without anyone to fight.
Boxing Challenge
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