Super middleweight Jaime Munguía (47-2, 35 KOs) escaped a dangerous sixth round to retain his WBA title against Nikita Zon (12-1-1, 10 KOs), winning a unanimous decision that looked far more comfortable on paper than in the ring.

Scores of 117-111, 116-112 and 117-111 failed to convey how badly the Russian troubled him. Zon’s southpaw power shots repeatedly breached Munguía’s defense, and his sixth-round attack left the champion in serious danger.

Munguía fought back with combinations and sustained activity, but his defensive work was dreadful against an opponent making his first twelve-round appearance. Two sequences in which Munguía appeared to go down went unrecognized as knockdowns, sparing him potentially costly counts.

He also escaped a point deduction for a clear rabbit punch, with the referee’s handling adding to an unsatisfying result. Zon exposed far more than expected, while Munguía needed his work rate and some favorable officiating to get through a thoroughly unconvincing title defense.

A severe cut ended Ricardo Blandón’s (21-7, 14 KOs) short-notice title challenge in round three, giving WBO featherweight champion Rafael Espinoza (29-0, 25 KOs) a TKO victory.

The ringside doctor stopped the scheduled twelve-round fight when the damage over Blandón’s eye became too serious to continue. Espinoza had already taken charge, using his long jab and steady pressure to keep the challenger occupied.

Blandón struggled to close the distance and generate enough offense to disrupt the champion. He had stepped in for Lorenzo Parra with roughly a week to prepare, leaving him a difficult task against the unbeaten Mexican.

The medical intervention brought an abrupt end before Espinoza could turn his early superiority into a sustained beating. Espinoza kept his belt comfortably, but the replacement opponent and cut-short contest offered little evidence about how his next major challenge might unfold.

Reito Tsutsumi (6-0, 5 KOs) made short work of Raymundo Rojas García (16-3, 11 KOs), stopping the Mexican in round two of their scheduled ten-round super featherweight contest. Rojas could not match the Japanese southpaw’s hand speed and found himself on the receiving end of clean combinations. Tsutsumi forced the pace from the outset, leaving his opponent little opportunity to mount an attack.

The difference in technique was apparent as Tsutsumi put his punches together and sustained the pressure. Rojas’s experience offered few answers against a fighter who was consistently quicker to the target. The TKO gave Tsutsumi a fifth straight stoppage, with this bout providing little chance to examine his ability over a longer distance. He handled the heavy favorite’s role emphatically, although stronger opposition is needed to test how much more he has to offer.

Carl Jammes Martin pulled off a major upset, lifting the WBC Silver featherweight belt from David Picasso by ten round split decision. Martin beat the favored Mexican to the punch round after round, firing crisp southpaw combinations that forced Picasso into an uncomfortably brisk pace.

Picasso owned the physical dimensions to manage the distance, yet he failed to establish his reach with enough conviction to keep the shorter man off him.

A handful of frames hung in the balance, but Martin’s sharper, heavier blows caught the eye during the heated exchanges. Picasso had his moments, yet his output regularly tailed off, letting valuable minutes slip away.

Martin maintained his intensity through the final bell, doing enough work in the championship stretch to persuade two of the ringside judges. Moving up in weight against a seasoned contender was a gamble, but the unbeaten Filipino seized the opportunity and claimed the signature win of his career.

A final round knockdown sealed Sultan Almohammed’s unanimous decision win over Erick Jahir Urvina Villegas in a six round super featherweight scrap. The 18-year-old Saudi prospect pushed the pace from the outset, keeping the Mexican under steady pressure. Urvina Villegas (5-3-3, 1 KO) showed plenty of grit by hanging in there, forcing the teenager to log more ring time than he had seen in most of his early outings.

Almohammed (6-0, 4 KOs) dictated the terms with his relentless work rate, even if he could not find the finishing blow. Urvina Villegas deserves credit for staying competitive while clearly being outgunned. The knockdown in the sixth provided an exclamation mark, erasing any doubt on the scorecards. For a young fighter used to quick nights at the office, having to grind through six hard rounds offered valuable development.

Bek Nurmaganbet needed less than three minutes to wipe out Marcos Vázquez Rodríguez, delivering a devastating stoppage that immediately had the DAZN broadcast calling it a candidate for Knockout of the Year.

The scheduled ten round super middleweight contest was halted at 2:57 of the opening frame after Nurmaganbet dropped the Mexican veteran twice. The heavy artillery proved far too much, ending any hope of a competitive scrap before it even began.

Vázquez Rodríguez had zero answers for the Kazakh southpaw, whose laser precision backed up every bit of his early aggression. The 37-year-old veteran brought plenty of experience into the ring, but none of it mattered against that kind of concussive force. Vázquez Rodríguez was coming off a previous loss, meaning stiffer tests will ultimately determine Nurmaganbet’s true ceiling.

Still, the unbeaten prospect did exactly what elite punchers are supposed to do, closing the show in style and stealing the spotlight on the undercard.

Super middleweight Emiliano Rojo (22-0, 9 KOs) secured Mexico’s first victory of the evening, stopping Flavius Biea (24-4, 12 KOs) in round four of a scheduled eight-round bout. The unbeaten 20-year-old set the tempo from the opening bell, steadily walking down the Romanian veteran. Biea found himself smothered, unable to create room or find answers for the sustained pressure coming his way.

The referee called a halt at 1:37 of the fourth round. Rojo remained composed throughout, measured in his attack rather than recklessly hunting an early knockout. Biea entered the ring having suffered recent stoppage defeats, so the win reveals little about how Rojo might hold up against top-tier competition. The young prospect took care of business precisely as planned, getting the veteran out of there with four rounds to spare.

Brayan León kept his perfect record intact by taking an eight round unanimous decision over Hector Aguirre in a super middleweight bout on the prelim card. The Cuban prospect pushed his record to 13 wins with nine knockouts, though Aguirre made him grind for every minute.

León opened rounds sharply before his tempo faded, inviting the Mexican to press forward into close range combat. León repeatedly retreated toward the ropes instead of keeping his opponent busy. Aguirre (7-1, 3 KOs) lacked the power to turn the fight around, yet his relentless pressure prevented a dominant display. León walks away with the victory, but he clearly has adjustments to make before stepping into deeper water.

Canelo Alvarez took the WBC super middleweight title once more, winning a clear, unanimous decision over Christian Mbilli in their main event from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Though Mbilli had scattered moments of success, and was hanging in there early with Canelo, the middle and late rounds strongly belonged to the veteran Canelo, who bounced back from his loss 13 months ago to Terence “Bud” Crawford by taking back a piece of the crown he lost that night.

Canelo vs Mbilli official scorecards

Canelo (64-3-3, 39 KO) won on scores of 115-112, 116-111, and 117-110 from the three ringside judges.

Bad Left Hook unofficially scored the fight 116-111 and 116-111 on two cards, both for Canelo.

The 36-year-old Alvarez never seemed in any real danger in this one, as he did the same job we’ve seen him do in victory for years now, keeping a tight defense, landing shots accurately while not throwing a lot of punches, and doing a very professional job of simply winning the fight, without much for the highlight reel.

It’s clear that Canelo is still a top-level fighter, even if he’s not who he was in his prime, and that it’s still going to take a sincere, elite-level fighter to beat him, as has been the case for his entire career.

What’s next for Canelo?

Hamzah Sheeraz seems to be the promotional house favorite to land the next Canelo bout, though WBC interim champ Lester Martinez will also hope to make the play, of course, and both were in attendance in Riyadh on Saturday.

And there will be others who want the fight — anyone that can make a weight Canelo can fight at will want the fight, in fact, as he still is the top money man in boxing’s non-heavyweight divisions, and it’s not like we’ve never seen Canelo throw a curveball for a “next fight.”

As for what Canelo said when asked, he said he would just be taking a little time off, and then return, as is normal. He named no potential opponents.

What did you think of Canelo’s win tonight? Jump into the post-fight conversation and tell us what you thought with the SB Nation app for iOS or Android!

Jaime Munguía (47-2, 35 KOs) kept his WBA super middleweight belt, but Nikita Zon made him look vulnerable in a unanimous decision victory that was much harder than the scores indicated. The Russian’s power repeatedly disrupted Munguía, most dramatically in a sixth round that nearly wrecked the champion’s night.

The judges scored it 117-111, 116-112 and 117-111. Munguía’s combinations and greater activity gave him a case for winning, although those margins did little justice to the danger Zon (12-1-1, 10 KOs) created during twelve competitive rounds.

Zon was making his first appearance over the championship distance against an opponent with far more experience. Yet he found openings in Munguía’s defense often enough to turn an expected showcase into an uncomfortable struggle. The champion could put punches together, but too frequently left himself available for hard replies.

Round six exposed the cost. Zon hurt Munguía badly and threatened a stoppage, forcing the Mexican to survive before he could regain the initiative. Munguía recovered and resumed his offensive work, showing determination without fixing the defensive faults that had put him in trouble.

The referee’s decisions also helped him. Two apparent knockdown sequences went without counts, while a clear rabbit punch from Munguía brought no point deduction. Those incidents deserved better handling in a fight where individual scoring decisions mattered more than the final totals suggested.

Munguía’s output ultimately carried him through, but this was a poor performance against a challenger who had never faced comparable opposition. Zon’s relative inexperience should have made the champion’s greater variety and seasoning decisive; instead, his power remained a threat.

After the Bruno Surace knockout loss, another damaging scare is difficult to dismiss. Munguía still takes too many clean punches while attacking, and Zon demonstrated how quickly that can erase the comfort provided by a busy round. The belt stayed with Munguía, but the performance gave stronger punchers at 168 pounds plenty to study.

Related Videos

▶00:12

Jaime Munguia is UP NEXT! 👊Jaime Munguia is UP NEXT! 👊

DAZN Boxing · 2 hours ago