Honda Center, Anaheim, California – Top middleweight contender Jaime Munguia (40-0, 32 KOs) struggled in the first four rounds. He finally unleashed his power in the fifth, to score three knockdowns to secure a stoppage of Jimmy Kelly (26-3, 10 KOs).
The fight took place at a catch-weight of 165-pounds.
Entering the fight, Kelly was coming off an upset split decision win over top junior middleweight contender Kanat Islam this past February.
Munguia was also in action in February, when he knocked out D’Mitrius Ballard in three rounds.
When the bout began, it was very apparent that Munguia was significantly bigger than Kelly. Munguia was feeling his opponent out in the first, by probing things with the jab and making Kelly come to him. Kelly was also jabbing, but it wasn’t nearly as hard. Eventually Munguia began to come forward and put punches together in spots.
In the second, Kelly was doing well with his defense and then cracked Munguia hard with a big hook. Munguia stumbled back, which prompted Kelly to jump on him with a few more punches before Munguia began to fire back. Munguia was rushing his work and missing a lot of big punches.
During the third, it was give and take with both boxers having spots of success. Kelly was able to connect with the quicker punches, but Munguia was taking them well. Munguia was getting more aggressive in the fourth. He was coming forward and looking to do damage. Kelly had very good footwork and was able to avoid a lot of punches while landing quick left hands.
There was a lot of grappling in the fifth. During the fifth, Kelly was pulling back and got dropped by a hard hook. The fight was restarted, he started to brawl with Munguia and got decked by another hard shot. Kelly was doing his best to survive and fight back, but a series of punches dropped him for a third time and the referee decided to wave off the fight.