Jaime Munguia was forced to pass a real test of his heart as he took the vacant WBC Silver super middleweight title with a points win against the teak-tough Sergiy Derevyanchenko at Toyota Arena in Ontario.
Munguia was defending a long unbeaten record, and making only his second appearance at super middleweight, having served as WBO super welterweight champion, and then moving up to middleweight, where he had recorded several low-key wins. Derevyanchenko’s best performances had largely come in defeat to the likes of Gannady Golovkin, Daniel Jacobs and Jermall Charlo, all in competitive points losses, but he was coming off a wide points win last time out.
The pair went to war pretty much from the off here, and it was absorbing stuff, with both taking turns to dish out punishment, but the Mexican had to endure a torrid fifth round, where Derevyanchenko (14-5, KO10) landed a huge right hand that left Munguia (42-0, KO33) all at sea, and he looked on the verge of being stopped before firing back to stagger the Ukrainian in a thrilling frame of action. Munguia regained his composure in the sixth, connecting with some eye-catching left hands, and he shaded the seventh with his work rate. Back came Derevyanchenko though, working well off the jab in the eighth and landing the weightier blows in the ninth before a three-punch salvo looked to have won him round ten. With the contest in the balance, Munguia finished strongly, staggering Derevyanchenko and forcing his man to hold in the penultimate round, but the breakthrough and telling blow came in the final frame, where Munguia landed a left hand to the body that dropped Derevyanchenko, who was fading fast. He survived the count, and somehow made his way to the final bell, where a close result was expected.
MUNGUIA KNOCKS DOWN DEREVYANCHENKO IN THE FINAL ROUND #MunguiaDerevyanchenko pic.twitter.com/SmG2IbQKVy
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) June 11, 2023
It proved to be just that, as Munguia took the victory by two scores of 114-113, with a third tally of 115-112. The knockdown proved the difference in the end.
On the undercard, Shane Mosley Jr (20-4, KO11) impressed, dropping D’Mitrius Ballard (21-2-1, KO13) in the fifth of their ten rounder en route to scoring a seventh round stoppage that brought him the vacant WBO NABO super middleweight title.
SHANE MOSLEY JR. ENDS IT 💥#MunguiaDerevyanchenko pic.twitter.com/BCsuYPScSg
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) June 11, 2023
Mayeli Flores (10-1-1, KO3) took an eight round decision win in her eight round super bantamweight contest against Mexico’s Mariana Juarez (55-13-4, KO19). Two scores of 79-73 and a third at 80-72 reflected Flores’ dominance.
What a performance from Mayeli Flores 👏#MunguiaDerevyanchenko pic.twitter.com/Cb7tuw8UHI
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) June 11, 2023
Ricardo Sandoval (22-2, KO16) made it two wins on the spin, as the flyweight took a ten round decision win against Rocco Santomauro (22-2, KO6). Two scores of 96-94 and a third of 98-92 sealed the victory for the Californian.
Big shots from Ricardo Sandoval 🧨#MunguiaDerevyanchenko pic.twitter.com/bdNPIDXg8A
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) June 11, 2023
The sole six rounder was at featherweight, where Jorge Chavez (7-0, KO5) took all six rounds against Christian Lorenzo (3-5, KO1), and the lone four rounder saw Anthony Saldivar (4-0, KO2) knock out Jerome Clayton (2-2-1, KO2) in the second round.
