Saved by a cut?
Jaime Munguia was in the battle of his life against Tureano Johnson when the fight was stopped after Round 6 because of a gruesome cut on Johnson’s upper lip Friday night in Indio, Calif.
Munguia, fighting for the second time as a middleweight, was a significant favorite going into the fight but his veteran opponent made it clear from the opening bell that the 24-year-old Mexican would have his hands full.
Johnson’s strategy wasn’t complicated: pressure, pressure, pressure. The 36-year-old Bahamian attacked Munguia immediately, fighting chest to chest, throwing short, hard punches – particularly an effective chopping right — and smothering Munguia.
The former 154-pound champ adjusted fairly quickly, finding a home for his right uppercut and other power shots or spinning away from Johnson and fighting effectively from the outside.
Still, this was a back and forth fight. Johnson had good moments in every round and so did Munguia, which made the fight difficult to score. Boxing Junkie had it 58-56 for Munguia but the same score for Johnson or even card after six rounds would’ve been reasonable.
The pattern of the fight hadn’t changed significantly in Round 6 when, with about 30 second left, one of those right upper cuts from Munguia snapped Johnson’s head back and split his lip wide open. Referee Raul Caiz Sr. called a timeout with 21 seconds remaining and asked the ring doctor to have a look. Johnson was allowed to finish the round but the fight was stopped after the bell.
Johnson was the victim of bad luck, as he seemed to have a legitimate chance to score the biggest victory of his career only to watch it slip away because of the gash.
The good news for him is that he clearly demonstrated that he can still compete on even terms with a top 160-pounder. He almost certainly isn’t finished as a player in the middleweight division if that’s what he wants.
Meanwhile, you can’t say that Munguia was lucky. He landed a perfect shot that busted up his opponent. You can say that he was fortunate to avoid six more rounds that might’ve been the toughest of his career, with the final result in doubt.
He acknowledged that Johnson gave him all he could handle.
“He surprised me with the pressure from the get go,” Munguia said through a translator. “He wanted to surprise me with those punches. But I adjusted. The uppercuts inside were very important [for me].”
Munguia hadn’t fought since January, when he stopped Gary O’Sullivan in 11 rounds in his debut at 160 pounds. He had been out of the ring for more than nine months.
Now, with another victory under his belt, he wants to get back into the ring within a few months.
“I want another fight in January, then potentially a title fight,” he said. “I’ll wait and see what my promoter Fernando Beltran says what’s next for me. I want any of the 160-pound champions. Any of them would be great for me.”
In a preliminary bout, Rashidi Ellis (23-0, 12 KOs) defeated Alexis Rocha (16-1, 10 KOs) by a unanimous decision in a 12-round welterweight bout. The scores were 116-112, 116-112 and 115-113.