I'm aware that perhaps the majority of people on ESB haven't had the opportunity to watch Cristian Mijares title winning effort last Saturday. There's probably a few things you want to know. Did Mijares look good? Who is Rosas and did he bring anything to the table? Was there any controversy in terms of scoring? I thought Cristian Mijares performed relatively well under the circumstances. He had in front of him a very game fighter in Rosas, a come-forward pressure fighter with a relentless offense. He didn't seem to ever stop throwing, and whilst this would often be punished with counters, you would have to think he won some rounds on activity alone given the casual nature of Mijares, who often looked like he was having a walk through a park. A competitive clash of styles, one which was certainly worth watching. There were moments of vintage Mijares. He would turn Rosas inside out, slip 3-4 of his punches, and then return with a nicely placed uppercut underneath. This is what we were used to seeing in his fights with the likes of Navvarro and Muniz, all before his stunning upset loss at the hands of Vic Darchniyan. Mijares is a very intelligent fighter, he still knows how to defend himself, and limit the damage of his opponents punches by either laying on the inside or using his legs to dominate an outside altercation behind a flicking jab. As I said, Rosas is your standard pressure fighter. Not much in the way of defense, he's just trying to throw as many punches as possible at the man in front of him, and this probably won him some rounds. For all of Mijares great defensive work, he was still guilty of often laying on the ropes and allowing Rosas to tee-off on him. Some judges favor aggression over precision, and this has been telling throughout Mijares entire career. Some of the most ominous scorecards you're ever likely to see have involved fights with Mijares. Thankfully no scorecard turned in for this fight raised any eyebrows. It was a competitive fight, and Rosas won a few rounds, but Mijares always looked in control. He was making Rosas miss in every session, and was on point with most of his own flurries. Perhaps if he sat down on more of his shots it would make his opponent think twice about piling on the pressure and making life difficult. He was throwing "pitter patter" stuff for most part, and this won't cut it against the best at Super Flyweight, I feel. Does Mijares still have a desire for Boxing? Is he continuing because he loves the sport and wants to be an outstanding World Champion again? After the scorecards were read out, he slumped to his knees, held his hands in his head, and appeared to weep. This was a very emotional victory for Mijares, and it didn't come easy.
Rosas was one of the top 5 worst title holders when he still held that belt. Vintage Mijares would of had an easy clean sweep.
I havent watched the fight yet...I've only seen Rosas fight once against Fernando Montiel...Dude was ugly to watch at times... Anyone else seen the fight with Montiel? Montiel won by shutout if i remember correctly.
I thought Mijares was made to work at a harder pace than he would of liked, also, its just aswell Rosas was so wide, inaccurate with some of his shots, as Mijares spent too much time rolling and slipping at times imo, and he (Mijares) wasn't fending all those shots off, which was probably a result of, whilst he was rolling and slipping, he(Mijares) found the odd transtion for defense to offense, like the uppercut you mentioned, but he did'nt IMO, find it consistently enough, to the point where Rosas just kept throwing, as he did'nt have much to keep him busy, now as I say, I reckon Mijares could of been jeopardy had Rosas been more accurate in with his attacks, maybe he wouldn't of lost, but he would of had to change his strategy and use his legs more the way he did later in the fight.
Yeah, I touched on his lack of offense. He seemed almost to casual, and more concerned with slipping and avoiding punches than mounting his own attack. This most likely made it closer on the cards, but I still felt Mijares walked away with the victory pretty comfortably. I don't know if it was a case of fighting down to the level of your opponent, but Mijares looked even more casual than we're accustomed to seeing. We saw glimpses of vintage Mijares, but he isn't quite where he was. He's certainly not a shot fighter though, and perhaps a big win could restore his confidence to where it needs to be in order for him to be at his best again.
I did'nt score it, but I imagined Mijares accuracy was taking precedent over Rosas's activity, albeit ineffective activity, I mean when you think about it, as busy as he was, can you remember him landing a significant punch on Mijares? maybe he landed a solid body shot, but from what I remember, cant recall too much else, although its been a few days since I saw it. Yeah Im not to sure either, I mean you would of thought that wasn't the case, given that it was for a title, I guess you you could make a case that once Mijares realized what Rosas actually had to trouble him, that he got a bit lackadaisical in his attitude? or maybe he has been implementing stuff in the gym, and got too cocky that he was executing in the ring and did not do enough offensively to complement the defensive stuff he might of been working on? I dont think he's a shot fighter, never did, he just fought a guy in Cermeno who has an extremely difficult style, I mean I cant remember my scorecard, and I know there was an uproar about the decision, although that might of just been from Cermeno's camp, but I felt the Cermeno-Moreno was very close. Cermeno isn't a particularly good fighter imo, but he just has a way of making you fight his fight, dictating the rhythm a fight, he did it to Mijares twice.
He's always been very conservative with his energy offensively and that habit does seem more pronounced now. As long as he's doing enough to convince the judges (which should always be on his mind, with his history), I don't really see it as a problem.
