Super Middleweight Bout Ends In KO

Munguia KO’s Bazinyan to end his undefeated streak

Munguia vs Bazinyan at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona /

By Daniel Mukenya

Jaime Munguia and Erik Bazinyan faced off on Friday 20 Sept. in a bout that took place in Arizona for the super middleweight contest in a match that was supposed to be 12 rounds.

Former WBO junior middleweight champion, now WBC No. 2 ranked and WBO Silver middleweight champ Munguia (44-1, 35 KOs) was victorious against WBO #2 and NABF Super 168-lb champ Bazinyan (32-1-1, 23 KOs) with a tenth round KO in a scheduled 12 rounds match.

Fighting behind the jab, Bazinyan managed to keep Munguia at bay. He even managed to land some good overhead rights, taking advantage of the over-aggressiveness of Munguia. Looking calm and in control of the fight, he was able to land a combination of punches before moving out of range. His confidence rose with each round of success.

In the first round, both used their jabs, with Munguia coming forward. Both were able to land good punches with Bazinyan landing a right on Munguia’s chin and in the final seconds Munguia able to return the favour with hook on the chin as well.

In the second round, they both controlled each other's jabs with none being able to land a significant one. This continued to around the fifth round.

Midway through the sixth, Munguia started landing well. It became more interesting as Bazinyan used his jab and Munguia started throwing some power punches. In the seventh round at midway point, Munguia managed to land a flurry of punches. In the final minute of the round, Bazinyan came back well, having a left blocked but a right landed on the chin.

Somewhere around halfway point of the eighth round, Bazinyan managed to land a good right on Munguia’s chin. In the final minute, Munguia outworked Bazinyan, taking the round. It was back and forth in the nineth round, with both landing rights midway.

In the tenth round, Munguia landed a left hook to the chin and a chopping right to the head of Bazinyan, the combination dropped him, visibly hurt, Bazinyan went crumbling to the canvas and was counted out by referee Thomas Taylor as he could not recover.

Bazinyan showed tremendous heart against Munguia despite suffering his first defeat.