HOUSTON (Jan. 26, 2019): Mexican warrior Jaime Munguia (32-0, 26 KOs) successfully defended his WBO Junior Middleweight World Title by defeating Japanese contender Takeshi Inoue (13-1-1, 7 KOs) via 12-round unanimous decision at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. After a tough battle, Munguia won with scores of 120-108, 120-108 and 119-109. The action was streamed live on DAZN.
"It was a great fight. He was a great warrior," said Jaime Munguia. "It was a great battle for me. I was surprised by his ability to take punches. He took a lot of punches to the head and to the body. He took punches that would have dropped anyone else. I feel I got a lot of experience from this fight. I will keep working on using my distance. There were times where he was able to cut the distance, and I want to work on that."
"With 31 wins and no losses, Munguia was not just a power puncher but a great boxer," said Takeshi Inoue. "We both had the skill to kill the other's boxing style. He was the better fighter tonight. I hope to get better and come back to the United States to fight again."
In the co-main event, Xu Can (16-2, 2 KOs) of Kumming, China became the new WBA Featherweight Champion by defeating Jesus Rojas (26-3-2, 19 KOs) of Caguas, Puerto Rico via unanimous decision in an action-packed battle. Can won with scores of 118-110, 117-111, and 116-112.
Vergil Ortiz (12-0, 12 KOs) of Dallas, Texas stopped Jesus Valdez (23-5-1, 12 KOs) of Huatabampo, Mexico via TKO in the fifth round due to a severe cut on Valdez's left eye in a super lightweight fight originally scheduled for ten rounds.
Alex Rincon (6-0, 5 KOs) of Dallas, Texas defeated Jeremy Ramos (10-6, 4 KOs) of Bayamon, Puerto Rico via unanimous decision in a six-round super welterweight battle. Rincon won with scores of 60-54, 59-55, and 58-56.
Alberto Melian (4-0, 3 KOs) of Buenos Aires, Argentina became the new NABA Super Bantamweight Champion by defeating Edgar Ortega (10-2-2, 5 KOs) of Mexicali, Mexico via TKO in the final round of a 10-round battle. The fight was stopped at 1:33 of the aforementioned round.
George Rincon (6-0, 3 KOs) of Dallas, Texas defeated Emmanuel Valadez (5-7, 4 KOs) of Agua Prieta, Mexico via TKO in the first round of a super lightweight bout originally scheduled for six rounds. Rincon won with time a of 1:36 of the aforementioned round.