Canelo Alvarez put on a dominant performance to earn a unanimous decision victory against Jaime Munguia on Saturday night.
The two Mexican stars squared off at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Cinco de Mayo weekend as Munguia suffered his first career loss while failing to take Alvarez's undisputed middleweight title.
At the end of 12 rounds, Tim Cheatham scored the fight 117-110, David Sutherland had it 116-111, and Steve Weisfeld 115-112 all in favor Alvarez, 33, after putting on a clinic for his 27-year-old counterpart.
Alvarez landed 234 of 536 total punches, including 83 of 232 jabs and 151 of 304 power punches.
Meanwhile, Munguia landed 170 of 663 total, 74 of 335 jabs, and 96 of 328 power punches.
Canelo Alvarez dominated Jaime Munguia to earn a unanimous decision on Saturday night
Alvarez landed 234 of 536 punches, including 83 of 232 jabs and 151 of 304 power punches
Meanwhile, Munguia landed 170 of 663 total, 74 of 335 jabs, and 96 of 328 power punches
Munguia came out aggressive in the first three rounds, even getting Alvarez into the ropes in the third. Alvarez, though, showed in the fourth he wasn't going anywhere, using a left and then a right to the face to send Munguia to the canvass with 38 seconds left.
Alvarez then proceeded to sting Munguia over the next four rounds with shots to the face. Munguia put together his own sets of flurries, but they did little noticeable damage to Alvarez.
That is until the ninth round when Munguia landed some blows to the face that sent Alvarez backward, including into the corner at one point. But Alvarez responded with his own combinations, including coming out of the corner, in the fight's most action-packed round.
Alvarez scored a knockdown in the fourth round after clipping Munguia with an uppercut
Aside from defending his middleweight title, Alvarez improved his record to 61-2
The 10th and 11th rounds were close, but largely the same trends followed of Alvarez delivering the harder shots.
Munguia came out in the final round fighting as if he knew he was trailing on the judges' card, but did little damage. It was Alvarez who again came through with the best blows, using a combination with about a minute left to Munguia's head and following with several more shots to end the fight.
Alvarez now holds a 61-2 record and has won his last four outings. On the other hand, the much younger Munguia holds a 43-1 record after taking his first loss.