Munguia wins after 12-round marathon with Smith

Jaime Munguia was made to work hard as he successfully defended his WBO Junior Middleweight title for the first time with a decision win over Liam Smith.

Munguia was pushed the full 12 rounds by his challenger as Smith exposed several defensive flaws and landed multiple shots on the Mexican throughout their title fight in Las Vegas.

Smith (26-2 – 14 KO) is a former champion who has been a junior middleweight throughout his nine-year career and had only lost to Canelo Alvarez, before his defeat to Munguia.

Whilst the Brit fought gallantly and caused problems early on, it was Munguia who landed the bigger punches and in the end completed a unanimous points win (116-111, 119-108, 119-110).

The current titleholder now improves his record to 30-0 with 25 knockouts.

It was a second win on American television for Munguia after announcing himself in May with an upset win over Sadam Ali.