Boxing Challenge: Munguia battles Derevyvanchenko

  The biggest fight of the weekend normally receives top billing and while Teofimo Lopez's upset win over Josh Taylor will be more telling in the future of boxing, the fight between Jaime Munguia and Sergey Derevyvanchenko was also important and the battle waged will be remembered for a long time, so it deserves a post of its own.

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

TRS: 93 Pts (3)

Ramon Malpica: 85 Pts (2)

Vince Samano: 69 Pts (0)  

Boxing Challenge: Fundora stops Lubin

   Showtime's Saturday card may have lacked fights of impact on the undercard but the Las Vegas main event not only produced a challenger at 154 pounds for the winner of Jermell Charlo-Brian Castano, but it was also a tremendous and physical battle that made you wonder how much was taken out of the victor and the defeated for their future fights.

Fundora controlled the fight on the inside against the heavy-hitting Lubin, which would be a surprise if you looked at Fundora and never watched a fight of his previously, and knocked Lubin down in the second round.

Fundora throws tons of punches, isn't afraid to brawl, and with arguably the best nickname in boxing (The Towering Inferno) is just vulnerable enough to make his fights must-watch events.

And it was the vulnerability of Fundora's chin that came into play in the seventh round when Lubin, behind on the scorecards, knocked Fundora down and looked like he had a chance to make a miracle win occur.

Instead, it was Fundora that dominated the eighth and ninth, and with Lubin's face a lumpy mess that looked more like an old-school hockey goalie than a junior middleweight contender, trainer Kevin Cunningham stopped the fight before the start of the tenth round.

I had Fundora leading 86-83 after the entertaining pairing and as noted above, it was the type of fight that may have changed the career of Lubin, who may never be the same fighter again after the pasting that he received, and Fundora didn't escape unscathed despite the victory either.

Fundora should face the Jermell Charlo-Brian Castano winner sometime over the next year or so and will be a difficult opponent for either fighter.

Former WBC junior middleweight champion Tony Harrison looked as good as he had in years in outboxing Sergio Garcia, who fought time to fight and play in the Masters on the same weekend (just kidding) and won an easy unanimous decision.

Garcia tried to attack and slow Harrison down but was never able to achieve consistent success against the slick counterpunches from Harrison, who won for the first time since winning his title over Jermell Charlo (Harrison lost the rematch and drew with Bryant Perrella) and said he was willing to travel to Australia to face Tim Tszyu in his next fight.

I thought Harrison won 98-92 and hopefully will face a tougher foe than Garcia, who lost for the second fight in row after losing to Sebastian Fundora and appears to be a cut below top ten caliber.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 52 Pts (3)

Vince Samano: 46 Pts (0)

Ramon Malpica: 42 Pts (1)

Boxing Challenge: Garcia wins return

     Saturday night's card from DAZN and Golden Boy from San Antonio, Texas may have gotten the desired result in the win column but it didn't answer any of the questions surrounding lightweight star Ryan Garcia, who dominated but didn't dazzle in a unanimous decision victory over Emmanuel Tagoe.

Garcia scored a second-round knockdown that might have been more of a push and hurt Tagoe badly with a right hand in the tenth that saw the Ghanian lucky to survive the round.

Garcia was aggressive and he tried for the knockout throughout the fight but Tagoe moved for most of the fight and Garcia did appear to have some issues in cutting off the ring as well as winging some punches that a better contender than Tagoe might take advantage with counters against an open Garcia.

I scored Garcia an easy victor at 119-108

For his first fight in fifteen months, it was a solid effort against a veteran that wasn't interested in exchanging punches with Garcia and was very mobile but it did make you wonder how Garcia will do against an elite boxer with better skills than Tagoe.

The co-feature was a dull fight as Shane Mosley Jr. scored a surprising majority decision upset over veteran Gabriel Rosado over ten rounds

Mosley dominated with the jab, never allowed Rosado to rough him up on the inside, and outworked the aging veteran, who lost his third in his last four bouts and is 1-4-1 in his last six with the only win his miracle third-round knockout over Beketmir Melikuziev, which he was knocked down and getting pounded before the stunning one-punch ending.

For Mosley, even considering the sliding of form for Rosado, this is the biggest win of his career and I'm sure this will get him more fights in the future against name fighters.

However, I don't think he can hold off stronger fighters or pressure boxers and he seems to be caught in the role of a fringe contender with a memorable moniker.

The other surprise was the scoring with judge Mendez Ramos with an odoriferous card of 95-95.

I had Mosely well ahead at 98-92.

I'll be writing on the Showtime card later today when I have a chance to watch the broadcast.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 49 Pts (1)

Vince Samano: 46 Pts (2)

Ramon Malpica: 41 Pts (1)