By Scott Gilfoid: WBA super bantamweight champion Scott Quigg (27-0-2, 20 KO’s) will be defending his title this Saturday night against little known fringe contender Tshifhiwa “The Atomic spider” Munyai (24-2-1, 12 KO’s) at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, United Kingdom. The 28-year-old Munyai replaces Quigg’s previously scheduled opponent Nehomar Cermeno, who couldn’t take the fight due to visa problems.
Munyai has been to the UK on several occasions, whipping Martin Power twice and beating Lee Haskins without any problems. The South African Munyai had too much talent for those fighters, and he pretty much made easy work of them.
Quigg hasn’t looked great in his two fights as the WBA 122lb champion, as he fought to a 12 round draw against Yoandris Salinas last year in October in a fight that Quigg arguably should have lost. In his last fight, he defeated an inexperienced Diego Oscar Silva in two rounds last November. Silva is nowhere the level of the high quality contenders at 122, which is why Quigg was able to dispatch him so easily.
Munyai has some power, and he’s got a little bit of talent. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he beats Quigg on Saturday, I really wouldn’t. In watching Quigg struggle against Salinas last year, I think it’s pretty clear that Quigg won’t last long as the WBA champion unless he’s matched very, very carefully. One wrong step in terms of match-making and we’ll likely see Quigg lose his title. Munyai, although a fringe contender, he’s got enough talent to give Quigg a run for his money on Saturday.
If Munyai takes the fight to Quigg, he should be able to dominate the action and make Quigg run. That’s what Salinas did to Quigg last year and it worked out well for him.
The WBA has two champions at 122 – Guillermo Rigondeaux and Quigg. Rigondeaux wants to fight Quigg badly, but there hasn’t been a move by Quigg’s team to make that fight happen. I wonder if that’s a fight that will never happen. My guess is Rigondeaux will be ignored until he starts showing signs that he’s lost it.
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In the co-feature fight on this card, contenders John Murray (33-2, 20 KO’s) and Anthony Crolla (27-4-1, 10 KO’s) will be battling it out. Crolla will be defending his WBO Inter-Continental lightweight title. Murray will probably need a knockout to win the fight, because Crolla has been involved in a number of controversial decisions that have gone his way.
I see Crolla winning this fight if it goes to the cards no matter how good Murray looks. Crolla is one of those fighters with luck on his side right now. He’s a decent fringe level fighter without much power. Murray should be able to take the judges out of the fight by putting a serious beating on Crolla. If Murray is smart, he’ll be focusing on knocking Crolla out rather than taking his chances of winding up getting the shaft if it goes to the cards.
Other somewhat interesting fights on the card as follows:
Josh Warrington vs. Rendall Munroe
Stephen Foster vs. Santiago Bustos
Callum Smith vs. Francois Bastient
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