By Miguel Maravilla at ringside
Tijuana’s undefeated middleweight and former world champion Jaime Munguia (40-0, 32 KOs) scored a fifth-round knockout over Jimmy “Kilrain” Kelly (26-3, 10 KOs) of Manchester, England Saturday night at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
Feeling each other out in the opening round, Munguia and Kelly jabbed. Smith came out firing and had a good round in the second, letting his hands go connecting as he backed Munguia. Boxing and feinting in round three, Munguia stalked as Kelly was on his feet moving and popping the jab. Kelly kept letting his hands go boxing well keeping his distance in round four as Munguia pressed, a solid right hand connected for Munguia at the bell to end the round.
In the fifth, Munguia began to pick up the pressure, a short-left hook found its mark for Munguia as he dropped Kelly. Getting up quickly, Munguia sent him to the canvas a second time with an uppercut. Munguia dropped Kelly a third time and referee Thomas Taylor had seen enough and stopped the fight at 2:57.
When will Munguia fight somebody with a pulse?
He called out Charlo and told him to grow some balls and stop hiding behind Leonard Ellerbe.
He’s taking the Charlo train right now and jus fighting tomato cans. But I agree. Time to step it up in that division
Probably not
That was screwed up!
The referee got involved unnecessarily and even took a point away from Kelly causing him to loose his rhythm!
Wonder how much the ref was los?
The only point taken from Kelly my dude is when he got dropped. Then another point and then another point. Ref never took a point away from Kelly. What fight was u watching?
Mr. Tony, keep in mind that reality is no longer relevant. The only thing that matters is a person’s “own truth”. People now see what they want to see.
No sarcasm here whatsoever.
How many more taxi cab drivers will he fight before he fights a legitimate contender?
He’s entertaining to watch. Takes a few too many.
yes he does, I’m not a Canelo fan, but agreed, he could not take that many from Canelo or GGG….or could he?????
Time to put Munguia in the ring against Eubank, Jr.
Wow such a fantastic win for hymie, seems like years ago when he was mentioned as an opponent for GGG but he was too young and not ready. Fast forward and he is still fighting tomato cans
I still like Munguia. He’s going to be judged as a 40-0 former world champion and not a 25 year old and that’s fine and he clearly needs to work on his defense. But I think in 2-3 years when he’s in his prime, he’ll be an excellent fighter.
Munguia vs. Berlanga at that weight class. Munguia takes it!!
I was thinking about a math up between those two. Munguia will blast Berlanga out of the ring. After watching Berlanga’s fight tonight, I came to the conclusion that he does not have much to offer. He’s lucky he didn’t get knocked out tonight, if only Angulo would’ve been in shape.
Thats a fight I would love to see. Plus it wld sell… i think one of them wld definitely get exposed. My gut says Berlanga
Munguia, another Canelo, realizes fighting upright fighters that aren’t elusive and athletic, is an easier proposition. Munguia avoided Jacobs, Charlo, and Andrade, like the Monkeypox…facts! Not knocking his hustle, but it is what it is…tell me I’m wrong.
What r u talking about, Kelly was as ellusive as they get for a good descent fighter. If it wasnt for Mungias power, he wld have lost that fight on points. He cldnt Kelly solid for the first 4 rounds
Please can this Munguia cat step up.
11 More WINS and he will SURPASS Mayweather Record of 50 Wins.
Munguia looked absolutely horrible in my opinion! He looked slow and sloppy at times! Gets hit very easily as he doesn’t have top level defense. He would get totally demolished by Benavidez @68! Would get demolished by Charlo @60!
Borimex, i have to agree. Mungia did look sloppy. These last two fights shld be an eye opener for him. If it wasnt for his raw power, he wld have lost both on the cards. I still dont think a Charlo wld beat him thus why they werent willing to negotiate for tv rights, BUT @ 168, Plant, Saunders, Morell beat him, Benavidez literally hurts him.
Stylistically not the best match up for Mungia. I had Kelly leading 39-37 heading into the fifth. Kelly was landing some clean lunging left hooks in the fourth and peppering some good combinations that caught Mungia by suprise. Good footwork and ring generalship while it lasted by Kelly, definetly had Mungia confused and chasing. Even Erik Morales acknowledged likely being behind on the cards before Mungia came out for the fifth. I don’t necessarily believe there was an adjustment by Mungia but rather caught an overconfident Kelly on the exchange and that was game over for Kelly. It would be a tough fight for Mungia against Andrade or Saunders match up. It will be interesting to see where Mungia goes next.
Munguia will be judged like every other boxer all people do is talk but watch when he does win an beat everyone in the division then those people that talked will change there opinion just like when the non niner fans become fans only when they have a winning season
Munguía and Zurdo Ramírez , looking to pas 50-0
Tony; Kelly’s “elusiveness” is not the same as more athletically gifted fighters. He did what he could with what he had, but its not the same fast twitch fiber muscles working. Watch black people dance and then watch white people dance to give you a clearer perspective. Even Sergio Mora said it when he said Kelly’s feints weren’t the prettiest but they were effective in the early rounds.
DMV: i get ur analogy of Black/vs white dancers BUT ive seen black dancers with no rythm!! And white dancers that can outdance alot of black dancers so thats kinda a dumb comment with a hint of racism.anyway, ellusive is ellusive. Doesnt matter if its pretty or not. It worked. And comparing it with Canelo is silly. Canelo has fought alot of elusive fighters such as Trout, FML, Lara, Plant, etc.
Lol. Fighting nothing but bums