9 years ago today: Sebastián Andrés "Iron Pimienta" Luján vs. "Mighty" Mark Jason Melligen

This content is protected

Main event on ESPN2 FNF, perhaps the program's quintessential model. A slew of its most common hallmark features were present:

• Fighters repping the far east and Latin America.
• An orthodox vs. southpaw clash.
• Veteran grit versus youthful athleticism.
• A front-running boxer-puncher starting well only to be ground down and overcome by a pressure fighter with middling power but a terrific gas tank.
• Talent well above journeymen but short of world title caliber.

Underrated match, and probably a top 15 candidate for 2011's FOTY. It certainly wasn't snubbed for the official honors - that should rightfully have been Yaegashi vs. Porpramook or Márquez vs. Concepción I - but it was certainly better than what Ring Magazine did choose (Ortiz vs. Berto; a decent but unspectacular fight that benefited from being on HBO and both combatants having a lot of mainstream/casual hype behind them). Interesting that Luján - seven years Melligen's elder - would campaign for another half a decade (although he went a paltry 5-7, although he did claim the interim Argentine welterweight title and challenged for the IBF), while the Pinoy would quit the sport in the midst of his prime just thirteen months later.

Here was the original RBR:
https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/espn2-fnf-mark-melligen-vs-sebastian-lujan-rbr.324460/

 

Luján is probably too frequently remembered as just a footnote, or trivia question ("who's that guy who got his ear ripped off by Margarito that one time? ") - so it warms my cockles that he picked up a solid late-career victory like this. Even if MJM wasn't quite a "prospect' anymore by this point (more of a known-to-be-flawed ex-prospect and fringe contender) it was still a happy coup for the ol' Chili Pepper.