Fighting in a hometown can be too much for some.
Not for Jose Miguel Borrego.
In front of a raucous crowd, Borrego Etoundi outboxed William and dropped him once en route to a hard-fought unanimous decision victory at el Deportivo Ferrocarrilero in his hometown of Aguascalientes, Mexico. The scores were 97-92, 97-92 and 98-91 for Borrego, who improved to 21-4, 17 knockouts.
Borrego was the aggressor from the opening bell, taking the initiative and throwing hooks behind a consistent jab and landing. Both would exchange combinations over the next few rounds, but William would start to consistently land uppercuts. Borrego was content to hang in the pocket, but by round four, blood started coming out of his nose.
The action produced solid exchanges, but it was a two-punch combination that dropped William to the canvas in the fifth round. William was able to fend off Borrego’s onslaught of punches after he beat the count, whether he stuck it out or fought back, even had a decent sixth round that saw him box Borrego out.
By the eighth lap, William had slowed down, possibly from exhaustion, and was just throwing speed. Borrego would walk William down to the ropes, connected to the head and body.
Even as Borrego eased his aggression during the final two rounds, William continued to back off, preferring to fight off the ropes. Borrego did let his hands go, outboxed William and took his share of blows until the final bell.
The 26-year-old Borrego, who recently fought on PBC and ProBox TV cards, previously fought on November 3 last year, knocking out Diego Perez Vigil in the third round. The fight also took place in Aguascalientes.
In his previous fight in February 2022, Borrego lost by unanimous decision to then-undefeated welterweight prospect Peter Dobson. With the win over William, Borrego has won seven of his last nine fights.
William, who is originally from Abidjan in the Ivory Coast and now lives and trains in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, falls to 16-1, 12 KOs. William previously fought and stopped journeyman Ricardo Banuelos Cernas on April 26, which took place in Mexico City.
The 31-year-old has notable wins over fringe contender Jorge Garcia Perez and Endry Saavedra, who were undefeated before stepping into the ring against William.
In the co-feature, featherweight Kevin Barron Crespo of Tijuana, Mexico defeated Nazario Castro by unanimous decision. Scores were 97-92, 97-92 and 99-90 for Crespo, who improved to 15-1, 9 KOs.
Crespo dropped Nazario in the second round. Crespo was the more effective fighter for most of the fight, but both fighters traded good exchanges between the two.
Nazario, who lives in Guamuchil, Mexico, falls to 13-5-1, 8 KOs.
Junior welterweight Antonio Aguilera of Tijuana improved to 10-0-1, 2 KOs and defeated Francisco Vital Macias (4-3, 4 KOs) of Aguascalientes by unanimous decision. All three judges scored the match 58-56 in favor of Aguilera.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached at (email protected)
