Mexico’s Munguia Beats Puerto Rico’s Rosado in SoCal

ANAHEIM-Mexico’s Jaime Munguia took on the skills and experience of Puerto Rico’s Gabe Rosado and proved that his chin and improved defense could pass the middleweight test on Saturday.

That Mexican chin took some shots.

Munguia (38-0, 30 KOs) remained undefeated and proved to be a middleweight contender by winning a 12-round middleweight fight by unanimous decision over Rosado (26-14-1, 15 KOs) in front of more than 8,000 vocal fans at the Honda Center on the Golden Boy Promotions card.

Rosado was born and raised in Philadelphia, but his ancestry is Puerto Rican. Anytime you pit Mexico versus Puerto Rico it’s going to get loud

Munguia, a former super welterweight world titlist, moved up a weight division but knew his defense needed to be improved. Rosado, a veteran with the vast skills gained by fighting the likes of Gennady Golovkin, Alfredo Angulo and Daniel Jacobs was ready and willing.

In fact, Rosado had knocked off a previous Golden Boy contender and was eager to topple another. Munguia was a different, more resilient obstacle.

Despite some lethal rights delivered by Rosado, the Mexican fighter from Tijuana proved to have a shock absorber jaw that could withstand a bazooka. Several times the Puerto Rican fighter delivered sonic booms that could be heard over the din of the vocal crowd.

Munguia barely blinked.

Often Munguia unloaded violent volleys against Rosado and found the veteran fighter able to recover and retaliate. It was a master class given by Rosado. Munguia passed by unanimous decision. All three judges scored in favor of the Mexican fighter 118-110,119-109, 117-111.

“Truth is he was experienced. And went down from 168,” said Munguia.

Rosado was surprised by the scores.

“I thought I did enough,” said Rosado. “I’ll have to look at the fight.”

But for fans of the youthful Munguia, it was an important step for the Mexican fighter.

Other Fights

A welterweight clash between two strong fighters saw local fighter Alexis Rocha (18-1, 12 KOs) of Santa Ana power through Colombia’s Jeovanis Barraza (23-2, 15 KOs) with a consistent attack and winning by technical knockout 33 seconds into the ninth round.

Rocha, a southpaw slugger, was relentless in attacking the body and head though Barraza seldom showed signs of going down. After perhaps having his best round in the sixth round, the Colombian fighter saw Rocha ramp up his attack with some brutal power shots until the fight was stopped.

D’Mitrius Ballard (21-0-1, 11 KOs) figured out the awkward style of Mexico’s Paul Valenzuela (26-10, 17 KOs) to remain undefeated. The 10-round middleweight affair was filled with clinching, off-step punches and overhand rights from Valenzuela that sometimes looked good but had no power. All three judges scored it 98-92 for Ballard.

Mexico’s William Zepeda (24-0, 22 KOs) used an avalanche of blows to force a stoppage in the fourth round to win by technical knockout of John Moralde (24-5, 13 KOs). Zepeda retains a regional title.

Arely Mucino (30-3-2, 10 KOs) survived a knockdown and late rally by Jacky Calvo (14-7-2,) to win by split decision after 10 rounds in a furious flyweight elimination fight.

The former flyweight champion Mucino from Chihuahua attacked the body early to gain an early lead on Calvo. But soon the Mexico City fighter began using left hooks and uppercuts to counter the body shots. They proved effective numerous times in staggering Mucino.

Through almost every round Mucino targeted the body relentlessly in a crouched stance. It gave her an early advantage in the flyweight fight. But Calvo made adjustments and was very selective and used Mucino’s aggression to time the combinations and crack her own hooks and uppercuts.

It was heady stuff.

A Calvo counter left hook deposited Mucino to the floor in the ninth round after a seesaw battle for the first eight rounds. It looked like that might be enough. But despite the knockdown two judges saw the former world champion the winner by split decision 96-93 twice and 93-96.

Prelims

Alejandro “Pin Pon” Reyes (5-0, 4 KOs) of Los Angeles pleased his fans with a two-round beat-down of Miami’s Osmel Mayorga (2-3) in a welterweight fight. Reyes hurt Mayorga in the first and second round with overhand rights and body shots. In the second round Reyes pummeled Mayorga forcing referee Ed Hernandez to halt the match at 1:24 of the second round.

San Diego’s Jorge Chavez (1-0) staggered Mexico City’s Gilberto Aguilar (0-4) in each round and finally managed to stop the tough Mexican super featherweight at 1:24 of the third round. Referee Tom Taylor allowed Aguilar to battle out but decided he had absorbed too much despite never hitting the floor.

Hawaii’s Asa Stevens (2-0) won the battle of southpaws with a first round knockout of San Diego’s Felix Vazquez (0-1).  Stevens unloaded an 11-punch salvo to force referee Ed Hernandez stop the fight at 1:59 of the opening round in a super bantamweight bout.

Photo credit: Al Applerose

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