Mundy Defeats Rivera

By Boxing News - 06/02/2008 - Comments

mundy443224.jpgBy Eric Thomas: Undefeated light middleweight prospect Latif Mundy (8-0, 3 KOs) defeated George Rivera (8-2, 3 KOs) when the fight was stopped at the end of the 4th round by the ringside doctor on Friday night at the Expo Mart, in Monroeville, Pennsylvania. Mundy, 25, one of the top prospects in the light middleweight division, dominated the fight against Rivera, 30, using a combination of power punching and lightning quick combinations to control the bout. There were no knockdowns in the fight, but Rivera was cut on the left side of his face near his eye in the 3rd round. His face would redden and swell in the 4th round from Mundy’s blistering shots to the head. Mundy kept a steady jab going in the first round, using it to set up his fast combinations.

Rivera, after initially landing a couple of shots in the opening round, almost immediately backed once he got a taste of Mundy’s power. I couldn’t figure out whey Mundy doesn’t have more knockouts after watching the opening round because he hits incredibly hard, but after seeing that most of his fights have only been four rounders, I understood why. Once he gets into fights lasting later than 4-6, I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more knockouts from this guy. In the 2nd round, Mundy began to land more with right hand, and was giving Rivera all kinds of problems every time he’d land. However, Mundy instead opening up with more power shots, he seemed to be holding back for some reason, as if saving his power for a special occasion.

It seemed at first that he was afraid of getting hit with a big shot from Rivera, but I crossed that idea off my list when it became apparent that Rivera was just trying to survive, it seemed, and not throwing anything of power back at Mundy. My guess is that Mundy may not be able to retain his power for long if he throws too many punches in a round, and for that reason he seems to hold back more than he should. He looked as if he could have taken Rivera out at any time if he had fought hard for a round or so, because I seriously doubt that Rivera would have been able to stand up to being blitzed by a puncher as fast and as powerful as Mundy for long without folding up the tent.

In the 3rd round, Mundy began to load up more on his left hand shots, hitting Rivera hard at every opportunity. Rivera, not wanting to stick around and get hit more, began running to avoid Mundy. Near the end of the round, the ringside doctor examined Rivera’s face, which had developed a cut on the side near his left eye. Also, his face had become swollen on that side and was a bright red.

Rivera uncharacteristically fought hard in the 4th round, and landed a a number of good shots, a couple of which got the attention of Mundy. This seemed to energize Mundy, who perhaps needed this to get into the fight , who then began firing back with some tremendous shots, letting both arms go almost as if were a play ground fight. At the end of the round, Rivera looked as if he’d walked a wall, and was in bad shape from the big shots he’d taken in the round. The ringside doctor after taking a quick look at his face, then advised that the bout be stopped. Referee Ernie Sharif officially stopped the bout at 3:00 of the 4th round.