Jaime Munguia knocks out Bazinyan in Top Rank main event in Glendale

(This story has been updated to add new information.)

Just six days after Canelo Alvarez dominated on pay-per-view and thrilled his legions of Mexican fans, Phoenix-area boxing fans had the opportunity to see another great Mexican boxer in person at Desert Diamond Arena on Friday night. And Jaime Munguia did not disappoint, just as he did in Arizona in January of this year.

The multiple former champion in several weight classes beat challenger Erik Bazinyan in the 10th round.^th round and improved to 44-1 with 36 knockouts.

“We had to wrestle him down and be careful with body blows,” Munguia said in Spanish. “And in the 10^th round, I decided to give it my all. And that's how we managed the knockout.”

Munguia said the fight was a good test and was happy that the fans liked it. He mentioned Edgar Berlanga or Caleb Plant as possible future opponents.

Plant won his fight last Saturday on the Alvarez card and Berlanga lost to Alvarez the same night. A win over either man could be a major step toward a rematch with Alvarez.

“I could see that he hit hard, but he never hurt me,” Munguia said in Spanish. “It was a fight where I had to be smart.”

Munguia took the lead in the seventh round, landing hooks and jabs and several combinations that sent Bazinyan staggering into the ring ropes. Bazinyan landed a few jabs to Munguia's head that drew groans from the crowd, but Munguia took those punches and finished the job.

The top-five contender in the super middleweight division, whose only career loss was to Alvarez in May, was the more accurate puncher and landed more powerful punches, but Bazinyan, who had never faced an opponent of Munguia's caliber, held his ground.

In the end, Bazinyan could not keep the ever-attacking Munguia away and knocked him down in the 10th round. The count went to 10 and Bazinyan could no longer get up.

“I felt like I was going to win. I felt like he was very frustrated with my jab, my right hand and my counters,” Bazinyan said. “He got tired. And suddenly I got caught. I don't know what happened.”

Jaime Munguia has been in control of his super middleweight fight against Erik Bazinyan for eight rounds. The former champion looked ready to decide the matter in the seventh round, but Bazinyan recovered.

Munguia landed 20 power punches by the middle of the ninth round, Bazinyan three.

Munguia entered the ring four days after Mexican Independence Day to a rousing live rendition of the mariachi classic “El Rey” that further energized the crowd of 6,320. Even more viewers tuned in to ESPN to see one of the country's top fight cities bring the atmosphere to life.

Jaime Munguia vs. Erik Bazinyan Main Card: Richard Torrez Jr. wins by disqualification

Richard Torrez Jr. wants to be the next American heavyweight champion, and although he still has a long way to go at 25 years old, the former Olympic silver medalist from Tulare, California, accomplished his task on Friday.

Torrez improved his record to 11-0 when he stopped Joey Dawejko in the fifth round. Dawejko looked exhausted at this point and took too many blows to the head. Dawejko was officially disqualified for losing his mouth guard too many times.

“Whether I'm a candidate or a challenger, I'm Richard Torrez, and at the end of the day, I'm always going to fight the same way,” Torrez said.

Dawejko looked ready to give up, but referee Wes Melton intervened several times as the mouthpiece was repeatedly knocked out of his mouth, causing the crowd to chant an obscenity at Melton.

Dawejko (28-12-4) landed some hooks that rocked Torrez, but he was bloodied around the nose and could only try to protect himself from Torres' attack at the end.

More than half of the Desert Diamond Arena's lower seating area, as well as suites and stalls, were filled as 20-year-old junior welterweight prospect Emiliano Fernando Vargas heard the crowd cheer for his fight against Larry Fryers, the opener of the three-fight Munguia-Bazinyan main event.

Some of those cheers were for Vargas' father and trainer, Fernando Vargas. The elder Vargas went 26-5 in a career that spanned the late 1990s and early 2000s and fought some legends.

Emiliano has his father's traits. He and Fryers engaged in a fight with flying fists and went head to head, with Vargas executing a good plan despite a hand injury.

Vargas took Fryers to his knees with combinations to the head late in the fourth round. Fryers was in trouble for most of the fight and it all caught up with him in the fifth round when a left hook from Vargas knocked him down.

That was all Vargas needed because the fight was stopped. Fryers fought hard and took a lot of hard punches but didn't land many himself.

Vargas improved his record to 12-0 with his 10th knockout. He is 4-0 at the Desert Diamond Arena. The crowd, made up mostly of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans, enjoyed every second and the younger Vargas cut an impressive figure.

“I'm my biggest critic,” Vargas said. “These Irish guys have Mexican strength! It was a great fight. As I always say, it's never a boring fight. I just have to gain experience and pass these tests.”

Charly Suarez of the Philippines scored a third-round TKO against Jorge Castañeda of Texas in the final preliminary fight between Jaime Munguia and Erik Bazinyan.

Suarez (18-0, 10 KOs) was in control from the start, unbalancing his opponent twice in the third round, finishing the fight with a left-right combination that knocked Castañeda down, and Suarez went home with the WBO International Junior Lightweight title belt.

Bolivian Ricardo Fernandez, who came from Spain and had only one knockout to his name and a record of 15-13, surprised the then unbeaten junior boxer Alan Garcia with a right hook to the side of Garcia's head in the fifth round. The blow knocked Garcia down, who went through the ropes to the edge of the ring and could not get up until the count of 10.

The fight was the first upset in the Top Rank boxing match between Jaime Munguia and Erik Bazinyan on Friday night at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale.

Fernandez hardly knew what to do with himself after landing the fight-ending punch and ran around the ring in agitation. He spoke to the media after the fight.

DJ Zamora from Las Vegas had to fight the Argentinian Gerardo Antonio Perez. The junior lightweight fight went the full eight rounds and the two fighters walked around the ring with their arms locked in respect for what had happened between them.

The fight wasn't very action-packed for fans, but Zamora (14-0) was the clear winner, winning by unanimous decision. Perez celebrated going the full distance with the 21-year-old Zamora, who is working on his contender status.

Fans began streaming into the Desert Diamond Arena before 3 p.m. and the early-arriving crowd saw Jorge Garcia Perez of Los Mochis, Mexico deliver a hard left punch to his opponent Ilias Essaoudi in the ribs, ending the fight in the first round.

Perez, a junior middleweight, improved to 31-4 with 26 knockouts.

Following Perez's win, Steven “Kid Dynamite” Navarro got the crowd going with his performance to mariachi music. Then the 20-year-old 115-pounder from Inglewood, California, knocked down Oscar Arroyo Jr. in the first round, knocked out Arroyo in the second round and showed off his quick hands en route to Navarro's fourth win in four career fights.

Navarro's speed and power were too much for Arroyo and the fight was stopped towards the end of the third round.

In the first of nine fights scheduled for Friday, Sebastian Hernandez of Tijuana defeated Yonfrez Parejo in the junior featherweight division by technical knockout in the fourth round. The 23-year-old Hernandez improved his record to 17-0.

Jaime Munguia knocks out Bazinyan in Top Rank main event in Glendale

Jaime Munguia vs. Erik Bazinyan Main Card: Richard Torrez Jr. wins by disqualification

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