Canelo drops Jaime Munguia, wins clear decision to retain titles: Highlights

Canelo Alvarez retained his championship against Jaime Munguia.

Canelo Alvarez retained his undisputed super middleweight championship with a 12-round decision win over Jaime Munguia tonight in Las Vegas.

Canelo improved to 61-2-2 (39 KO) on scores of 115-112, 116-111, and 117-110. Bad Left Hook unofficially scored the fight 117-110 and 118-109 on two separate cards.

Munguia falls to 43-1 (34 KO) with his first pro loss, and also suffered the first knockdown of his pro career in round four.

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Munguia, 27, started well in the fight, but petered out after the knockdown especially. Still, he’s going to gain some respect for his performance, going a tough 12 with a top-level fighter like Canelo, and showing a lot of heart and desire throughout the fight. Munguia never gave up on it, he just found the hill a bit too steep to climb.

“It means a lot. I’m glad I gave Jaime this opportunity, he’s a great guy, great champion,” Canelo said after the fight. “I take my time. I have a lot of experience. He’s a great fighter, he’s strong, he’s smart, but I take my time. I have 12 rounds to win the fight and I did.”

Asked if he considers himself the best Mexican fighter ever, Canelo replied, “No, I don’t consider myself the best fighter ever. I respect all the Mexican fighters from the past and the present, I’m just doing my thing. I’m the best right now, for sure.”

Asked if he’d fight David Benavidez, who is moving up to 175 lbs next month, Canelo said, “If the money is right, I’ll make that (fight). If the money is right, I can fight right now. I don’t give a shit. Everybody’s asking for everything, right? When I fought Lara, Trout, Miguel Cotto, Billy Joe Saunders, everybody said I wouldn’t fight them. I fought all of them. So right now I can fight anyone I want.”

“I came out well. I think at the beginning I was winning some rounds. I let my hands go, but he’s a fighter with a lot of experience, obviously,” Munguia said through an interpreter. “He beat me. Unfortunately, he beat me. It definitely hurts, the loss hurts.”

On the undercard

• Mario Barrios retained his interim WBC welterweight title with a dull win over Marcos Maidana’s less exciting brother, Fabian Maidana. Judges had it 116-111 across the board. Barrios improves to 29-2 (18 KO), while Maidana drops to 22-3 (16 KO).
• Brandon Figueroa took a bit to warm into his fight after a career-long layoff, but put Jessie Magdaleno away in the ninth round on a vicious body shot, leading to a true, 10-count knockout. Figueroa (25-1-1, 19 KO) got the KO at 2:59 of the ninth round officially, and retains his interim WBC featherweight title, for whatever that’s worth. Magdaleno (29-3, 18 KO) has now lost two in a row.
• Eimantas Stanionis broke a two-year inactive run with a clear decision win over Gabriel Maestre, retaining his secondary WBA welterweight title. Judges saw it 117-111, 118-110, and 119-109, all of which were fair. Bad Left Hook’s two unofficial cards both came out at 118-110. Stanionis (15-0, 9 KO) quickly jumps right back into the elite end of the frankly depleted welterweight division, which sorely needed him back. Maestre (6-1-1, 5 KO), at 37, probably fought the best fight he is capable of, but he was against someone just better than him, and any dreams he had of winning a world title probably started and ended in this fight.