NEWARK, N.J. – Emmanuel Chance had been looking forward to his first bout in his home state since he was 10 years old. After six rounds, his homecoming turned into the scare of a lifetime.
The former USA Boxing national team member started strongly, scoring a second-round knockdown, but had to eke out a split decision win over Angel Munoz on Friday at Prudential Center. One judge had the bantamweight bout 58-56 for Munoz but was overruled by the other two who scored it 57-56 for Chance, with the knockdown being the margin of victory for the 19-year-old from nearby East Orange, N.J.
Chance, who is promoted by Top Rank, raised his record to 4-0 (1 KOs), while Munoz dropped to 3-3 (2 KOs) with the bout, which punctuated the undercard action on a ProBox TV card.
Chance, who earned a silver at the Youth World Championships in 2024, looked every bit like a future star in the first round rounds, pinpointing left-hand counters and lunging right hooks that left Munoz, 20, of Baldwin Park, California, looking lost in the first round. Chance appeared every bit the future star he has been pegged as in the second round, landing a left hand that put Munoz on the canvas. Munoz beat the count and took advantage of Chance’s overanxiousness as he sought a knockout, landing counters while Chance tried to force his offense.
World junior welterweight titleholder Shakur Stevenson, who came up with Chance at Newark’s Elite Heat Boxing in the amateurs, urged Chance to “set it up” and “keep looking for your shots.” When he noticed Chance breathing with his mouth open later in the round, Stevenson’s advice turned to “deep breaths in there.”
Chance's older brother, featherweight Rajon Chance, laid the stakes out there clearly: "You’re a national champion, it’s time to use your experience," said Rajon Chance.
Chance, now gassed from his offensive explosion, began to get outworked by Munoz, who started putting punches together to the head and body while Chance tried to roll away from them. Munoz’s momentum continued through the fourth as Chance’s offense was limited to one punch at a time, often with the jab to the body. Munoz switched to southpaw in the fifth to take away that opening, and began to find openings with right hooks and uppercuts up the middle. With just three minutes left in the fight, Chance went back to being aggressive, opening up with power shots to begin the round. But it was Munoz who made the final statement, knocking Chance’s head back with an uppercut with 30 seconds remaining in the fight.
Erick Kedar Gainous, 9-0 (6 KOs), kept his unbeaten record intact, scoring a third-round stoppage of fellow Denver resident Alejandro Ibarra, 8-4 (2 KOs), in a six-round super middleweight fight. The end came at the 2:48 mark as Gaionous, 26, landed repeated unanswered blows that had the 32-year-old Ibarra reeling.
Elijah “Macho” Gonzalez, 4-0 (3 KOs), of Brooklyn, New York, scored a fourth-round stoppage against his most experienced opponent to date, finishing off Danny Murray, 8-11, at 1:05 of the final round. Gonzalez, 19, knocked his opponent out of the ring in the second and cut him with a hook in the third before a right hand to the ear finished off Murray, 34, of Lanoka Harbor, New Jersey.
It was a disappointing night for Ofacio Falcon, a lightweight prospect from The Bronx, New York, as he was on his way to a stoppage victory when an errant punch resulted in a no-contest. Falcon, 14-0 (8 KOs), had already dropped Ghana’s Tackie Annan, 20-13 (18 KOs), with a right hand to the head, and as Falcon pushed for the stoppage, a jab to the body strayed beneath the cup. Annan dropped to his knees and wasn’t moving, as if he had been knocked unconscious, prompting the referee to stop the fight after about 20 seconds.
Annan walked out of the ring on his own power moments later, having ended his streak of four knockout losses in bouts on US soil.
In a featherweight bout, Keith Colon scored a first-round knockout of Luis Almendarez Morales at the 2:38 mark.
Opening the card, Alex De Jesus, 2-0 (1 KO), and Gregory Lee, 0-3-1, boxed to a draw in a four-round lightweight bout. One judge had it for De Jesus at 39-37, while the other two had it even at 38-38.
Ryan Songalia is a reporter and editor for BoxingScene.com and has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler, The Guardian, Vice and The Ring magazine. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at ryansongalia@gmail.com or on Twitter at @ryansongalia.
