Photos: Jaime Munguia, Takeshi Inoue Go To War - HUGE Gallery

By Peter Lim

The ghost of Nobuhiro Ishida vs. James Kirkland hovered over the Toyota Center in Houston as Jaime Munguia prepared to defend his 154-pound alphabet belt against Takeshi Inoue. Like Ishida, Inoue was an obscure fighter from Japan with a less-than-impressive record who ventured onto American soil to challenge an undefeated, ferocious powerhouse of a junior middleweight.

Like Ishida, , Inoue was a massive underdog slated as cannon fodder against a rising star. It was supposed to be nothing more than a stay-busy, profile raising fight for the up-and-coming firebrand. And, a fighter by the name of Saul "Canelo" Alvarez figured into the futures of both Kirkland and Munguia for a potential big-money showdown.

But the light-hitting Ishida went off script and dropped Kirkland three times for a shocking first-round TKO and Ring Magazin's 2011 Upset of the Year. Could Inoue repeat his countryman's unbelievable feat from eight years ago?

But it was not to be.

Alternating between boxing and brawling, Munguia (32-0, 26 KOs) pounded out a lopsided decision against Inoue (13-1-1, 7 KOs) in a bruising war to retain his WBO junior middleweight title.

Munguia started the fight uncharacteristically circling and jabbing like he was Ali, as Inoue attempted with some success to force the fight into the trenches. Munguia took control in the second round and never relinquished it as he began fighting like his normal self in the second round, shooting straight punches to the head and drilling hooks to the body.

For the remainder of the fight, Munguia was faster on the trigger and dominated the exchanges with cleaner, sharper punches. Like a matador, he maneuvered  the ring fluidly, nailed Inoue from a distance with one-twos from a distance and ripped in savage hooks to the body when up close and personal.

Inoue, though was never out of the fight. Tough and tenacious, the Japanese fighter deployed a crude crowd-and-club strategy with a measure of success. He wanted to turn the fight into a prison brawl. At opportune moments he pinned Munguia on the ropes and chopped away with rights that sent beads of sweat spraying off Munguia' scalp.

Munguia hurt Inoue at the end of the tenth round and appeared on the verge of a stoppage only to have the bell ring amidst his assault. The Mexican continued to pepper and potshot at will in the championship rounds but Inoue stubbornly refused to yield.

The scores of 120-108and 119-109 (twice) were accurate but did not reflect the competitiveness of the challenger. Boxingscene.com scored the fight 119-109 for Munguia.