Yoenis Tellez overcomes nose smash to turn back Brian Mendoza

LAS VEGAS – Yoenis Tellez described his pain as “10 of 10,” admitting he was struggling to breathe after getting hammered on the nose by a Brian Mendoza head-butt.

“When you’re a warrior, you don’t admit weakness,” Cuba’s Tellez said in the ring afterward.

So in his effort to return to championship position, Tellez avoided the thought of caving in to the pain, persevering to record a unanimous decision victory Saturday over Mendoza in the co-main event at MGM Grand.

Judges Eric Cheek (98-92), Patricia Morse Jarman (97-93) and David Sutherland (97-93) awarded victory to Tellez, 12-1, in the heartfelt triumph over the only man in Mendoza, 23-5, who has ever defeated Saturday’s main-event fighter and titlist Sebastian Fundora. 

Mendoza knocked out WBC 154lbs belt holder Fundora in April 2023, in Carson, California, yet has gone 1-3 since, with other losses to Tim Tszyu and Serhii Bohachuk. 

Tellez’s August loss by unanimous decision to Germany’s Abass Baraou was effectively a title defeat since Baraou was quickly elevated to titleholder before losing in January to unified champion Xander Zayas.

Tellez returned to the ring quickly, posting a December victory, and then returning just 105 days later for Saturday’s co-main event.

Tellez let his hands go effectively in the second, landing on Mendoza.

In the third, Tellez suffered the badly bloodied nose and left a pool of blood on the canvas when the pair came together on an exchange and Mendoza’s forehead smashed into Tellez’s nose.

Referee Harvey Dock approved an extended delay as Tellez was treated and then nodded that he was ready to resume, receiving warm applause from the crowd.

“My corner got me back into the fight,” Tellez said. “I’m a warrior, and my corner told me, ‘You got balls.’”

Tellez landed a pair of effective rights in the fourth as his nose wound calmed.

In the sixth and seventh, however, Mendoza delivered hard combinations that backed up Tellez, who responded with repeated jabs that paced him through the eighth.

The bout’s best round was the ninth, when Tellez twice jarred Mendoza with head shots, including a vicious uppercut.

Each fighter picked his spots to unleash shots in the 10th, with Tellez’s precision shining again.

Ranked No. 5 among 154lbs fighters by the WBA, Tellez seeks to break into the WBC top 15 for a future shot at a belt holder also employed by Premier Boxing Champions.

Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.