Canelo Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs) started off slowly but came on strong from the fourth round to successfully defend his undisputed super middleweight championship, beating previously undefeated Jaime Munguia (43-1, 34 KOs) by a 12-round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Canelo dropped Munguia hard with a right uppercut to the head in the fourth round, and from that point on, it was smooth sailing. The judges’ scores were 117-111, 116-111, and 115-112.
Tonight’s undercard results:
WBC interim welterweight champion Mario Barrios (29-2, 18 KOs) dominated the blazing-fast Fabian Maidana (22-3, 16 KOs), winning a 12-round unanimous decision in a fight that was more one-sided than the scores.
Barrios put Maidana down with a perfectly placed chopping right hand in the third round. However, Maidana proved to be a great survivor, using movement and a cautious style to avoid getting caught again.
The scores were 116-111, 116-112, and 116-111. In the later rounds, Barrios’ right eye swelled close from the left hooks that Maidana was hitting him with.
Brandon Figueroa (25-1-1, 19 KOs) successfully defended his WBC interim featherweight title by knocking out former WBO super bantamweight champion Jesse Magdaleno (29-3, 18 KOs) in the ninth round.
Late in the ninth, Figueroa folded the 32-year-old Magdaleno with a hard left to the midsection. Magdalena went down like he’d been shot, and was too hurt to get back up. The time of the stoppage was at 2:59 of round nine.
Magdaleno had his moments in the first three rounds, landing hard shots, and moving around the ring to prevent Figueroa from getting his shots off.
By the fourth, Magdaleno could no longer move, and was forced to cover up against the ropes, and getting worked over by the high volume punching by Figueroa.
In a back-and-forth battle, WBA ‘regular’ welterweight champion Eimantas Stanionis (15-0, 9 KOs) wore down previously unbeaten Gabriel Maestre (6-1-1, 5 KOs), using his close-range style to win a by a 12 round unanimous decision.
Maestre, 37, fought well in the first three rounds, connecting with nice uppercuts and looks to the head of Stanionis. However, from the fourth round, Maestre began fading, losing power on his shots, holding a lot, and fighting in spurts for only a portion of each round.
The younger fighter Stanionis took advantage of Maestre’s fatigue to dominate the last eight rounds. The judges’ scores were 119-109, 118-110 and 117-111.
In an entertaining fight, junior middleweight Jesus Ramos (21-1, 17 KOs) got back to his winning ways, defeating knockout artist Johan Gonzalez (34-3, 33 KOs) in the ninth round. Ramos put Gonzalez down twice.
The fight was waved off after the second knockdown in the ninth. The time of the stoppage was at 2:56 mark.
Junior middleweight Vito Mielnicki (18-1, 12 KOs) looked sharp, dominating Ronald Cruz (19-4-1, 12 KOs) by a ten-round unanimous decision. Mielnicki landed the cleaner, harder shots to win by the judges’ scores of 99-89, 98-90, and 96-92.
Super bantamweight contender Alan Picasso (28-0-1, 16 KOs) used his volume punch attack to stop Damien Vasquez (17-4-1, 10 KOs) in the fifth round. The stoppage occurred at 2:11.
Super middleweight contender William Scull (22-0, 9 KOs) defeated Sean Hemphill (16-2, 10 KOs) in an eight-round unanimous decision. The scores were scores were 79-72, 78-73, and 76-75.
Undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KOs) defends his titles in what he refers to as his “dream fight” against fellow countryman Jaime Munguia (43-0, 34 KOs) tonight in an event that has a start time at 8:00 p.m. ET at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Canelo’s headliner fight against Munguia starts approximately at 11 pm. ET / 4 am in UK time.
