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5'8" middleweight Mónica Núñez was born on March 20, 1984 in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.
She is
currently based in Irvington, New Jersey and is managed by Valentín Contreras.
She turned pro three months after her sixteenth birthday in June 2000, and moved
up from 119 pounds in her debut to 164 pounds when she faced Laila Ali in 2004.
She made her pro debut on June 29, 2000 in Santo Domingo, defeating debut fighter Claribel Ferreira
by a third-round TKO.
On September 13, 2000 in Santo Domingo she weighed in at 119 lbs and won a four-round decision
over Marilyn Hernandez (119 lbs) of Santo Domingo who fell to 1-1 (0 KO).
On November 29, 2000 in Santo Domingo she won a four-round decision
over debut fighter Liliana Martinez.
On August 29, 2001 in Santo Domingo she weighed in at 130 lbs and won a fourth-round TKO over Angela Garcia of San Cristobal, Dominican Republic,
who was making her debut.
On September 22, 2002 at Teo Cruz Coliseum in Santo Domingo she weighed in at 147 lbs and TKO'd
Damaris Vizcaino of the Domincan Republic, a debut fighter, in the third round.
On December 19, 2002 at Teo Cruz Coliseum in Santo Domingo she weighed in at
137 lbs and won a four-round unanimous decision over Diana Garcia (135 lbs) of the
Dominican Republic, who fell to 2-2-0.
On October 23, 2003 at Days Inn Conference Center, Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA, Roselin Morales (151 lbs) of Allentown won a four-round split (39-37x2 Morales, 39-37 Núñez)
decision over Monica (153½ lbs). The fight was a toe-to-toe battle with
Morales while Núñez moved a lot and was a busy puncher. There were no knockdowns.
Morales advanced to 3-0 (1 KO).
 On December 4, 2003 at Days Inn Conference Center, Allentown, PA, USA she weighed in at 152 lbs and TKO'd
Shadina Pennybaker (147 lbs) at 1:23 in the second round of a scheduled six-rounder.
Jordan Maldonado told WBAN that Pennybaker "came out very
strong and fast in the first round, but then was tagged with a couple of
perfect left hooks. The second hook was a devastating one
that dropped Shadina. After that the rest was history. Shadina kept
trying to fight but never recovered."
Pennybaker fell to 7-4-1 (2 KO).
On June 12, 2004 at the Athletic Association Grounds in Hamilton, Bermuda,
Monica (162 lbs) won a four-round unanimous (40-37,40-37,40-37) decision over
Teresa Perozzi (169 lbs) of Bermuda who fell to 1-1.
Monica tags Shelley Burton with a left
© Copyrighted photo taken by Mary Ann Owen
On June 26, 2004 at Silverton Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, she won a six-round
majority (59-55,58-55,57-57) decision over Shelley Burton of Las Vegas, who fell to 4-1-0 (1 KO). Núñez controlled the pace but took a few hard shots while backing Burton up with her jab and a hard right.
Burton appeared to wake up in the fourth and landed some good counters, but
slowed in the late going while Núñez finished strong.
Ali vs. Nunez in July 2004
© Copyrighted photo by Brian Ackley
On July 30, 2004 before 17,000 fans at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky, Laila Ali (168 lbs) successfully defended her IWBF Super Middleweight
belt by stopping Monica (164 lbs)
at 0:42 seconds in the
ninth round. Ali had Núñez on the ropes when the challenger's
corner threw in the towel. See the
full story
by Brian Ackley, WBAN's Senior Editor, who writes that "While fans were warmly
enthusiastic in their support, many also felt unsatisfied and grumbled at
the end result when Núñez's corner, for no reason apparent ... waved the bout to a sudden halt.
Many fans didn’t even know what had happened. Rarely did Ali let her punches go, and even rarer was her attempts
to try and step back from Núñez’s clutch and grab survival strategy. Even at
the stoppage, while Ali did have Núñez pinned briefly on the ropes near a
neutral corner, the Dominican challenger appeared relatively unhurt."
Ackley adds '"The win over Núñez was solid, but certainly lackluster in many ways
... with the combatants
going round and round often in clinches. Ali did do some decent body work in
the middle rounds which wore Núñez down, but as early as the second round,
there were scattered catcalls from those who expected Ali to ratchet up the
inspiration (of) fighting in her father’s hometown." (For more photos of
this fight, see Photo Gallery #191 at the WBAN Records Member Site).
Ali advanced to 18-0 (15 KO).
On February 11th at the Phillips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia,
Leatitia Robinson (160 lbs) of Chicago,
Illinois knocked Monica (159 lbs) out with her second punch to earn a shockingly
easy 36-second win. Robinson landed a solid straight right hand to the
midsection of Núñez, feinted to open the way through her guard and then dropped
her with a picture perfect left hook to the jaw. The fight had been
scheduled as a ten-rounder for Robinson's WIBA Middleweight title. Robinson
improved to 13-0 (9 KOs).
On July 19, 2005 on an ESPN2
"Tuesday Night Fights" card in Lula, Mississippi, Ann Wolfe
(165 lbs) of Waco, Texas won
by TKO in the seventh round when Monica (164 lbs) did not answer the bell for
the final round of a scheduled eight-rounder. This was a slow action bout. Wolfe
improved her record to 21-1-0 (15 KOs) while Núñez fell to 9-4-0 (4 KOs).
Other Monica Nunez links
To check out fight reports, complete up-to-date boxing records, with huge digital photos you can go to
the WBAN Records Member Site
Page last updated:
Sunday November 05, 2017 |
