Jaime Munguia decisions Takeshi Inoue – RESULTS

By Boxing News - 01/27/2019 - Comments

Image: Jaime Munguia decisions Takeshi Inoue - RESULTS

By Allan Fox: WBO junior middleweight champion Jaime Munguia (32-0, 26 KOs) had to battle hard to defeat the game #3 WBO Takeshi Inoue (13-1-1, 7 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night on DAZN at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. Both fighters were hurt on multiple occasions in the fight, but the much busier 6’0″ Munguia prevailed.

The scores were 120-108, 120-108, and 119-109. Boxing News 24 had the fight scored 118-110 for the 22-year-old Munguia. He won the fight, but it wasn’t wide as the three judges scored it. They didn’t give Inoue credit for hurting Munguia in several of the rounds. Munguia was getting clocked on the ropes. If not for holding Munguia did on the inside, he might have been in trouble.

Throughout the fight, Munguia was hit with shots on the back of his by Inoue on the inside. The Japanese fighter was throwing looping shots that often hooked around the back of Munguia’s head. The referee warned Inoue on several occasions to stop doing this. However, Munguia was also guilty of throwing a lot of rabbit punches as well, so it mutual thing. Inoue’s short 5’8″ height made it hard for Munguia to hit him to the front of his head, as he was coming in so low and ducking to avoid shots.

Munguia threw almost 1000 punches, which is an incredible amount of shots for a middleweight. He landed 311 of 998 shots for a connect percentage of 31, according to CompuBox’ stats. Inoue landed 133 of 539 punches for a 25% connect rate. Munguia was missing a lot of punches from the outside, and was getting sloppy by throwing uppercuts from long range. Inoue was able to take advantage of Munguia’s sloppy defense to hit him with some massive punches. It was a good thing for Munguia that Inoue isn’t the biggest puncher.

Inoue didn’t dish out as much punishment that he took, but his constant pressure that he was putting on Munguia made it a very hard fight for the young 22-year-old Golden Boy Promotions star. It didn’t matter that Inoue was outclassed, and not as powerful as Munguia. He was getting his licks in and making Munguia earn his win the hard way by having to brawl with a guy that was not going to be stopped no matter what. What was interesting is that Munguia went from being the pressure fighter to that of a boxer and mover in the second half of the contest. Munguia was moving around the ring, and tying Inoue up to keep from getting hit. That was a big surprise that a fighter with little punching power could have that kind an effect on Munguia. He clearly didn’t like the pressure that Inoue was putting on him.

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Munguia landed a lot of nice body shots that were key to his victory tonight. His best moment in the fight came late in the 10th round when he hurt Inoue with several left hands and a right that had him backed up to the ropes and in trouble. The crowd was on the edge of their seats, believing that Munguia was on the verge of getting a stoppage. In the 11th round, Inoue came back and showed no signs of having been hurt in the previous round. Inoue was landing big shots on the inside with Munguia backed against the ropes. The punches were snapping Munguia’s head sideways.

“It was a great fight. He was a great warrior,” Munguia said about Inoue. “I was surprised by him. I received a lot of punches on the back of my head. After a few fights, I want to go to 160. Of course, I will accept the challenge,” Munguia said when asked if he’d be interested in moving up to middleweight to take on World Boxing Organization champion Demetrius Andrade, who called him out tonight.

Munguia’s promoters at Golden Boy Promotions will have him defend against his WBO mandatory Dennis Hogan next in the summer. After that, it’s going to be up to Golden Boy if they dare to put Munguia in with any of the other champions at 154 for a unification fight. Munguia needs more experience before he faces IBF/WBA champion Jarrett Hurd or Jermell Charlo. WBC champion Tony Harrison is someone that Munguia would match up well against. Harrison has a rematch coming up against Charlo. The winner of that fight will be an option for Munguia to fight if Golden Boy wants to take a chance of putting him with one of those two.

All in all, it was an exciting fight, and one of the best of the year. Munguia and Inoue didn’t given an inch tonight, and they made for the boxing fans at ringside and at home. In a fight like this, it’s too bad someone had to be a loser, as they both looked like winners tonight. It was a great effort from both guys. A rematch between Munguia and Inoue would be an excellent idea. It’s unclear whether Golden Boy Promotions will want to keep Munguia fighting wars against Inoue, considering that there are bigger fights out there for the Mexican star. Munguia was supposed to have won tonight’s fight with ease. The way that Munguia struggled against Inoue suggests that he needs to improve a great deal before he faces better opposition. As such, fighting Inoue a second time could be a bad idea, given that it would expose how flawed Munguia is at this early stage in his career. Fighters like Demetrius Andrade calling out Munguia tells you that he sees weakness in his game that he feels he can exploit.

“Look forward to seeing you soon!!” WBO 160 lb champion Demetrius Andrade said on his social media site tonight.

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