By: Sean Crose
Ontario, California hosted a scheduled 12 round super middleweight affair on Saturday night between Jaime Munguia and Sergiy Derevyancheno. It was a close fight between two action fighters on paper – and indeed it ended up being a high action fight in reality, as well. Indeed, it may actually end up being a fight of the year contender. For this was a true throwdown.
It took all of half a round for Derevyanchenko and Munguia to go to war, banging away ferociously at one another. Each man landed hard. It was quite a first round. Munguia rocked his man in the second then started firing missiles at his opponent. Derevyanchenko responded by firing back furiously on his own. The fight was off to a terrific start. The battled slowed just a bit in the first half of the third, yet it resumed it’s furious pace in the second half. It was already starting to look like the fight would be decided by who had the better jaw.
Munguia went on to have a strong fourth, thanks to his jab and some effective punches. The two men beat each other like crazy in the fifth, though Munguia seemed to be getting the worst of it. Indeed, it looked like the fight was on the verge of being stopped. Munguia fought back like a warrior, but Derevyanchenko continued to fire away. Still, Munguia incredibly survived the round. Derevyanchenko appeared to take much of the sixth off, allowing Munguia to land effectively.
Things remained brutal in the seventh, though Munguia may have landed more of the cleaner shots. When he engaged, however, Munguia ended up eating hard punches. In the eighth it looked like the popular Mexican fighter was learning to keep his man at bay with the jab. Derevyanchenko looked like he was about to go down at one point, then rallied and banged away at Munguia. The ninth saw Derevyanchenko land clean and powerfully on his opponent. By the end of the round, however, it was Munguia who was landing strong shots.
Munguia had his moments in the tenth, but Derevyanchenko was obviously giving Munguia much trouble. That didn’t keep Munguia from hurting Derevyanchenko on the eleventh, however. Derevyanchenko, though was able to keep from being totally dominated. It looked like the fight was Derevyanchenko’s when Munguia shockingly dropped him with a body shot in the final round. Dreevyanchenko beat the count, but Munguia was now going for broke. Somehow, someway, Derevyanchenko survived the round.
In the end, however, it was Munguia who stepped out of the ring with a slim decision victory.