Tijuana’s Jaime Munguía outpoints Nikita Zon in Riyadh and, Zeta reports, keeps his WBA belt

Tijuana boxer Jaime Munguía beat Russia’s Nikita Zon by unanimous decision on Saturday, Oct. 31, at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with all three judges scoring the fight 117-111, Zeta reported. The bout was on a card headlined by Canelo Álvarez against Christian Mbilli, according to Claro Sports.

Zeta described a hard fight that stayed even for long stretches, with Zon putting Munguía in trouble several times, before the Tijuana fighter pulled ahead in the closing rounds, and reported that he successfully defended his World Boxing Association super middleweight title. His record is now 47 wins and 2 losses, with 35 knockouts, according to Zeta. Munguía won the WBA belt in May by beating Armando Reséndiz, Claro Sports reported.

The title’s status had been in question before the fight. On Oct. 28, Claro Sports reported that the WBA had not initially approved Zon as a title defense, because it had ordered Munguía to face its top-ranked contender, Bektemir Melikuziev. Guillermo Brito, operations director for Munguía’s promoter, Zanfer, told the boxing website Izquierdazo, as cited by Claro Sports, that the organization had since authorized the opponent and that Munguía’s next fight would be the mandatory one. Claro Sports noted that the WBA had not yet published a formal resolution.

What’s next

Neither report gave a date for a fight with Melikuziev. Zon came into the bout unbeaten, at 12 wins and one draw with 10 knockouts, per Claro Sports.