Munguia claims UD win over Surace in Riyadh
JAIME Munguia made it revenge rather than repeat, learning the lessons of his shock loss to Bruno Surace by outpointing his nemesis by 12-round unanimous decision in Riyadh. Judges Howard Foster and Ron McNair scored it 117-111 to Munguia, while Kieran McCann had it slightly tighter at 116-112.
Munguia started with an exaggerated high left hand, eager to avoid the same bludgeoning overhand right that shocked him the first time they met. The crowd tried to rally their man in the second as he introduced the jab to set up the flurries.
Boxing with new trainer Eddy Reynoso in the corner, Munguia was trying to soak up as much information as he could between rounds. Frenchman Surace was revelling in his new role as a puncher, stalking the Mexican behind his solid jab.
Munguia continued hunting the body as referee Bob Williams warned him for briefly straying outside of the target area. DAZN’s Chris Mannix usually had all-action Munguia a round behind going into the sixth, as his adopted conservative approach let rounds potentially slide by.
Keen to avoid the “flash in the pan” tagline, Surace tried to find a repeat right hand, but his workrate slowed at the close of the seventh as Munguia took advantage of the lull to shoeshine with shots.
Munguia’s pressure fighting style began to tell as they reached the championship rounds. Surace kept pitching for the equaliser. However, he could not avoid a first professional defeat, falling to 26-1-2 (5 KOs).
Munguia, 45-2 (35 KOs), is back on the world title train. Once he gets back to that level, his chin could be tested once again, and we’ll truly see how much the first Surace loss impacted his career prospects.
“It was really important for me to come back [from the first loss] and we’ve been working on mentality,” said Munguia, who praised new trainer Eddy Reynoso.
