By: Sean Crose
Up and coming prospect Ryan Garcia was supposed to fight on Saturday’s DAZN card from California. Unfortunately for Garcia, his opponent – and fellow fighter on the rise – Avery Sparrow was arrested and was unable to make the fight. An opponent was said to be looked for, but no opponent was agreed to, and Garcia ended up bitterly disappointed, as he had to sit the weekend out. The co-main event of the evening subsequently went to a women’s contest for the WBC and vacant WBO titles.
Photo Credit: Golden Boy Boxing Twitter Account
Titlist Franchon Crews-Dezurn, 5-1, slipped in between the ropes to face the 13-3 Marcielo Cornejo. Crews-Dezurn was supposed to fight another opponent, but Alejandra Jiminez was unable to fight, and Cornejo got the call. Crews-Dezurn looked as if she might barrel through her opponent at first, but Cornejo showed that sharp, accurate punching could be effective against the defending champion. Still, Crews-Dezurn’s telling and steady agression ended up telling the tale throughout the majority of the bout. Cornejo was even wobbled in the 9th. The decision ended up going to Crews-Dezurn, the clear winner.
It was time for the main event. Jaime Munguia’s previous fight saw the WBO junior middleweight champion come close to losing his title belt to Denis Hogan. With something to prove, Munguia entered the ring on Saturday to face the largely unknown Patrick Allotey. The challenger moved and landed well throughout the first. The second round was much closer than the first had been. Allotey still fought well, but Munguia began to land to the body. Munguia went to work well in the third, and took his man down with a body shot. Allotey got to his feet, but the champion sent him to the mat again at the bell.
Getting up before the ten count, Allotey made it to the fourth round. Still, Munguia was able to land so hard that Allotey had to take a knee. Allotey’s corner then stopped the bout. Munguia was simply too big and strong for his fast, effective foe. With that in mind, Munguia will now move up to middleweight where the world will see if he’s able to keep punching so effectively in a bigger division. Having done what he was supposed to with Allotey, Munguia will now find himself fighting on the same streaming service as fellow middleweights Canelo Alvarez, Gennady Golovkin, and Demetrius Andrade. The future will most certainly be interesting for the game hard hitting Mexican fighter.