Ossie Duran Dominates Mundy in Newark, Stops him in 10th

In the main event of the evening, Ossie Duran won a USBA regional middleweight title when he stopped a resilient Latif Mundy in the tenth and final round of their championship bout.

It was a fight that riled up the crowd, had them yelling, and ultimately brought them to their feet. To be quite honest, Duran fought a brilliant fight — a beautiful fight. Lundy, to his credit, fought a tough, rugged fight — a classic Philadelphia-style fight.

The Ghanaian Gladiator started off the fight whipping his jab in Mundy’s face — which was never too hard to find. It the same signature jab that marked up Matt Vanda’s face some months earlier in North Jersey. Duran opened strong, using his jab well, and finding success with his left hook.

The second round was really the only speed bump Duran hit on his road to victory. He came out flat, while Mundy scored clean shots to Duran’s head.

The fight was kept at distance and nobody was "in control" for the first half of the fight. But then the sixth round happened and Duran turned up the heat. He opened with three straight left hooks to the body of Mundy — the start of a conscious effort to attack Mundy’s body — to let the air out of his tires.

In the seventh, Duran continued to assert control, constantly walking forward and pressuring his counterpart. Throughout the mid-rounds, both fighter’s landed and ate their fare share of punches, but it was Duran’s punches having the most effect — especially his left hooks to the body.

By the eight round, Mundy was beginning to tire. After a break in action, Duran cornerman, Lenny DeJesus, got the attention of his fighter and shouts at him to throw an overhand right when action resumed.

Like a good student, Duran listened and the punch landed with a loud thud on Mundy’s head, drawing "oohs" and "aahs" from the crowd.

Duran continued to follow the blueprint from his corner — throw combinations, he isn’t hard to hit; but never forgetting to let some more air out of the tires along the way.

Finally, in the tenth round, Duran’s persistent approach paid off. An right hand rocked Mundy who immediately retreated. He quickly ran out of real estate and found himself with his back on the ropes. Duran took it from there — he began wailing away on Mundy. Left hook to the liver here, right hand to the face there. It was punch after punch, a ferocious flurry.

Mundy never left his feet, but his head almost left his neck. It bounced back and forth with each blow, prompting the referee to step in and end the punishment.

The time of stoppage was 2:29 of the tenth round.

With the win Paterson’s via Ghana’s Duran captures a USBA regional middleweight title and improves his record to 26-8-2, 10 KOs. Philadelphia’s Mundy falls to 10-3, 4 KOs.