Tellez Wins Decision Over Brian Mendoza

By David Finger

In the co-main event of the Fundora–Thurman fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Cuban junior middleweight contender Yoenis Tellez, 153.8, won the biggest fight of his career with a ten-round decision over Albuquerque, New Mexico’s Brian Mendoza, 153.2, in a bout that was closer than the scorecards indicated.

Tellez, a slick boxing technician, was arguably slightly outworked in the opening round but quickly found his rhythm in round two and boxed smartly, appearing to frustrate the former champion. However, an ugly clash of heads early in round three looked like it might cause the fight to end in a no-contest. Although the accidental clash did not initially appear particularly severe, it caught the Cuban on the nose, and he dropped to the canvas in obvious pain. With blood pouring from his nose, Tellez seemed unable to keep his eyes open as he was given five minutes to recover. To his credit, however, Tellez did not bow out, and after a nail-biting delay, the fight resumed. The third round remained close, as Mendoza was able to capitalize on the fact that Tellez was still clearly bothered by the injury.

From that point on, the fight gradually developed into an absolute slugfest. The Cuban boxed well in round four, catching Mendoza with a hard right late in the round. Tellez continued to control the action with his speed in round five and again landed a right hand. But if fans thought Mendoza would allow the Cuban to dominate behind his jab without responding, they were mistaken. Mendoza flurried to close out the fifth round and also finished round six with a strong burst that, while not enough to win the round, did put Tellez on notice that the fight would not be easy.

By round seven, Tellez’s speed and jab were somewhat neutralized by Mendoza’s pressure, as he used his strength and clubbing shots to get inside. In round eight, Mendoza clearly got into Tellez’s head when Tellez responded to the pressure with a clinch followed by a hit on the break—a clear sign of frustration. By round nine, Tellez adjusted his strategy and began throwing harder right hands, tagging Mendoza with a solid combination early in the round. But Mendoza was intent on turning the fight into a brawl and was not about to back down. He answered with a counter left that visibly rattled the Cuban.

Going into the tenth round, few at press row saw the fight as lopsided as judge Larry Hazzard and the television commentators did, though the consensus was that Mendoza needed a big round. Both fighters fought accordingly, trading combinations in what became one of the best rounds of the year. However, while this reporter had the fight close (96–94 for Tellez), the judges scored it wider at 98–92 and 97–93 (twice) in his favor.

With the win, Tellez improves to 12-1 with 8 KOs, while Brian Mendoza falls to 23-5 with 17 KOs.

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