Munguía survives a rough sixth round to keep WBA title
The Tijuana fighter was nearly stopped in the sixth but won a unanimous decision in Riyadh in his first defense of the super middleweight belt.
Jaime Munguía kept his World Boxing Association super middleweight title on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, beating Russia's Nikita Zon by unanimous decision over 12 rounds. The fight shared a card with Canelo Álvarez's bout against Christian Mbilli.
The judges scored it 116-112, 117-111 and 117-111 for the Tijuana native. Mikael Hook, Janny Guzmán and Ferlin Marsh agreed on one round for Zon: the sixth.
That was the scare. Zon landed a counter left uppercut and a right hook that hurt Munguía, and referee Tony Weeks looked close to stepping in. The Mexican recovered and finished strong with his jab and body hooks. In the fifth, he had already rocked Zon with a shot to the chin.
Munguía called it a difficult fight afterward. He gave himself a six or seven out of 10 and said he made mistakes in that sixth round.
It was his first defense. He won the belt in May in Las Vegas, beating Armando Reséndiz by decision. The WBA at first declined to sanction the Zon fight as a title bout and later approved it, while it keeps Uzbekistan's Bektemir Melikuziev as the mandatory challenger.
Munguía improves to 47-2 with 35 knockouts. Zon, who came in with 12 wins and a draw, falls to 12-1-1.
