Jaime Munguia has never met a slugfest he didn’t like.

No exception was made in the former WBO junior middleweight titlist’s latest fight, a hard-fought unanimous decision win over Philadelphia’s Gabriel Rosado (26-14-1, 15KOs) in their 12-round middleweight thriller. The November 13 DAZN headliner saw Tijuana’s Munguia (38-0, 30KOs) prevail by scores of 119-109, 118-110 and 117-111 in front of a sold-out, rabid crowd at Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

“It was one of my toughest fights so far, this fight with Gabe Rosado,” Munguia told DAZN’s Chris Mannix after his latest win at middleweight. “He was tough, he knew how to tie me up. It was a tough fight but one that everyone enjoyed.

“He’s a strong opponent. He was coming back down from 168 pounds. He was strong in the ring. The truth is that I really enjoyed this fight.”

Rosado returned to middleweight for the first time since March 2019, having spent his last four fights at super middleweight. Munguia moved up from junior middleweight last January after five successful defenses during a jam-packed WBO junior middleweight title reign. The win over Rosado marked the first time Munguia was forced to go the distance at middleweight, having scored stoppage wins in each of his three bouts at the weight.

“I knew I had to work my way inside, close the gap between us and not give him any distance,” acknowledged Munguia. “I knew that’s what he wanted and that’s what I had to do.”

Munguia landed 328 total punches, more than any other Rosado opponent. The 25-year-old Mexican slugger also landed 258-of-538 power punches (48%), though failing to floor the Philly-bred trialhorse.

“He took a lot of punches—three, four, six punches at a time,” noted Rosado. “He’s a strong fighter and took a lot of punishment. I give him all my respect.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox