ANAHEIM, Calif. – Gabriela Fundora not only preserved her championship reign but also extended her knockout streak and fulfilled her vow to steal the show.
Fundora, the unbeaten and undisputed flyweight champion and high-ranking pound-for-pound entrant, picked apart Viviana Ruiz en route to a sixth-round stoppage. Ruiz – a WBA interim titlist headed into the night – was floored in Round 4 and battered into submission at 1:25 of Round 6 Saturday evening on DAZN from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
“I think [the performance] was good,” Fundora told DAZN’s Chris Mannix. “Right away, I think [Ruiz] felt my punch. I try to show something different each time. Watching back one fight, I heard [DAZN analyst and former 154lbs titlist Sergio] Mora call me flat-footed, so I had to show some movement.”
Fundora fought conservatively in the early rounds, a tactic that Ruiz was able to use to her advantage even if not necessarily winning the frames. Fundora – a 5ft, 9ins southpaw – popped her right jab and often scored with straight left hands behind it.
Ruiz managed to weather the storm every time, and often countered with overhand rights. Fundora consistently picked off the shots but was forced to take a clean overhand right from Ruiz in the second round.
Ruiz did her best to pressure the well-disciplined Fundora in the third, but the defending champ was unbothered. Fundora’s combinations were a little cleaner and crisper as the rounds progressed, and Ruiz gradually showed signs of bruising and swelling under her right eye.
Fundora was then ready to fight.
Ruiz was repeatedly clipped with straight punches, including a stiff left hand to send her to the canvas in the fifth. The first-time challenger Ruiz beat the count, but it already appeared as though the end was near.
Fundora closed the show just two rounds later. Ruiz was trapped in a corner as Fundora overwhelmed her with a barrage of straight lefts and rights until referee Ray Corona was forced to intervene.
“Each fight, I want to show something different,” Fundora reiterated.
Ruiz, 10-3 (5 KOs), boasts an incredible story – taking up the sport only after relocating to Australia from Colombia at age 27. Although she is a relatively young boxing 43, it remains to be seen where her career goes from here.
The best bet might be if the flyweight belts become vacant, which could be the case in the next few months.
Fundora, 18-0 (10 KOs), informed BoxingScene of her intention to eventually challenge at 108lbs, though she’s not entirely ready to abdicate her flyweight throne just yet.
“I want that [WBO] ring,” Fundora said of an honor bestowed upon WBO titlists after five successful defenses.
Saturday marked the third defense of the Ring, WBA, WBC and WBO titles for Fundora, and sixth overall since she claimed the IBF belt in an October 2023 knockout of Arely Mucino. She weighed 110.8lbs for Friday’s pre-fight weigh-in – and that was after eating a full breakfast – and has come in under the 112lbs fight for 12 straight fights.
For now, Fundora remains the flyweight queen – and, quite frankly, without a close second in the division. So the early endings will have to quench her thirst.
“I just want the fans to go home every time saying, ‘Damn, she got another knockout,’” noted Fundora, who now has six knockouts in seven championship fights.
Joel Iriarte finds power late – and right on time
Joel Iriarte found his groove at the perfect time.
There reached a point when the unbeaten welterweight prospect Iriarte was destined to go the distance for the second time in his past three starts. Then came a power surge that saw Iriarte floor Rock Myrthil and subsequently forced a stoppage at 2:36 of Round 6 in the DAZN main card opener.
Bakersfield’s Iriarte, 10-0 (9 KOs), was coming off the longest layoff of his young career, having not fought since last September. The last two months were his own doing, as Iriarte blew weight for a planned fight in January, a sequence which prompted his opponent to withdraw “because Gold told” him to do so.
Weight was not an issue this time around, though Iriarte was forced to prove his mettle after he got tagged in the second round. Myrthil, 17-3-1 (13 KOs), was feeling the moment, perhaps for good reason, as he was 0-2-1 over the past six years.
Any shot at an upset was neutralized by Iriarte, though the explosive power wasn’t quite there through five rounds.
“I got to get a couple of extra rounds in,” Iriarte said of his performance. “This was mostly the plan. … I wanted to get used to my distance and then get him out of there.”
He did just that in the sixth round.
Whatever confidence came over Myrthil was wiped out after Iriarte slammed home a left hook to send the L.A.-based Haitian Myrthil to the canvas. Myrthil beat the count, but Iriarte was determined to close the show. A final power-punching sequence, capped by a right hand, prompted referee Thomas Taylor to stop the contest.
“I was looking to set him up with the right hand and I was able to do that,” noted Iriarte, who picked up his deepest knockout – and first beyond the third round – since turning pro on this very weekend two years ago.
Grant Flores scores three knockdowns in latest win
Grant Flores, 13-0 (9 KOs), was well on his way to an early knockout but ultimately settled for a three-knockdown unanimous decision victory over Rashid Stevens, 6-2-2 (5 KOs).
Scores were 79-70, 78-71 and 77-75 for Flores, of Thermal, California, who had Stevens down twice within the first two rounds and again in the closing seconds of the final preliminary fight preceding the main DAZN stream. He has now gone the distance in two straight fights after having stopped his previous four opponents.
Cayden Griffiths, Daniel Garcia, Leo Sanchez enjoy early knockouts
There will be much tougher nights ahead for Cayden Griffiths, 8-0 (7 KOs), who barely broke a sweat in a first-round knockout of Omar Gutierrez, 8-3-1 (6 KOs).
Griffiths actually scored two knockdowns. The first came when Gutierrez was frozen from a body shot and pummeled along the ropes early in the fight. A Griffiths power surge later in the round, capped by a right hand, sent Gutierrez to the deck again in a sequence that prompted an immediate stoppage.
Locally based middleweight prospect Fabian Guzman, 10-0 (8 KOs), was pushed at times by Julian Delgado, 9-2 (4 KOs), but managed to outpoint the Corpus Christi, Texas, native over eight rounds. Scores were 79-73, 79-73 and 77-75 for Guzman, who hails from nearby Orange and who was extended the eight-round distance for the second time in three fights.
Denver’s Daniel “Junebug” Garcia, 13-0 (10 KOs), once again proved to be a lightweight to watch after a second-round stoppage of Blas Caro, 12-10 (5 KOs). A left hook at the tail-end of a two-punch combo floored Caro, who managed to beat the count but was deemed by referee David Solivan to be unfit to continue. The time of stoppage was 2:54 into Round 2.
Leo Sanchez, 10-0 (8 KOs), of Cathedral City, California, scored a second-round knockout of shopworn former title challenger Cesar Juarez, 31-20 (24 KOs). Sanchez connected with a straight left / right hook combo to floor Mexico City’s Juarez and forced the stoppage at 2:46 of Round 2 in the evening’s curtain raiser.
