By Dan Ambrose: Jaime Munguia (28-0, 24 KOs) is going to be the replacement opponent for middleweight champion Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin (37-0-1, 33 KOs) to fight on May 5th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada on HBO PPV, according to Dan Rafael.
It’s still not official yet though. The Nevada State Athletic Commission has to approve Munguia as being suitable to fight Golovkin for his IBF, IBO, WBA and WBC middleweight straps. The only reasons the Nevada Commission might balk at the idea of the 21-year-old Munguia being GGG’s opponent for May 5th is because he fights in the 154 lb. weight class and he has absolutely ZERO experience fighting upper tier fighters.
The Nevada Commission gave the green light to Floyd Mayweather Jr. fighting boxing novice Conor McGregor (0-1) last August, so they’ll probably rubber stamp he choice. As badly over-matched as the inexperienced Munguia is, he’s world’s better than McGregor. That fight should have been an exhibition fight rather than being counted as a professional fight that counted on Mayweather’s record. When you see fighters that 49-0, as Mayweather was last August, being allowed to fight a 0-0 novice in McGregor, it looks bad. If Golovkin were to do the same thing, he could easily beat Mayweather’s 50-0 record within months, not years.
Munguia has never fought a 12 round fight before during his 5-year pro career. The longest bout Munguia has had was a 10 round fight against journeyman Johnny Navarrette last year in April. Munguia won that fight by a one-sided 10 round unanimous decision by the scores 99-91, 100-90 and 100-90. For some unknown reason, Munguia’s management decided to match him back up against Navarrette in his last fight in March of this year. Munguia stopped him in the 3rd round this time. It could be that Munguia’s management is having problems finding opponents. When promoters start using retread opponents, it makes you wonder what’s going on, especially when the first fight was in no way a close one.
It’s a surprise to many that the 21-year-old Munguia will be the one facing Golovkin, as he’s not a middleweight for one, and he’s completely unknown for two. Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan had been mentioned as the opponent that would be facing GGG on May 5th. O’Sullivan said that he was offered the fight by Golovkin’s people, and he had accepted. But it looks like Team Golovkin opted for the unbeaten Munguia. It’s a move that fits the occasion, as the fight is taking place on the Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo on May 5th, and Golovkin’s previously scheduled opponent Saul Canelo Alvarez is Mexican.
Given how weak Munguia’s resume has been since he turned pro in 2013, you can’t tell whether he’s a good fighter or not. In looking at some of his previous fights, Munguia looks very slow in terms of hand speed, and he’s easy to hit, very easy to hit. Munguia will be the ideal opponent for Golovkin to showcase his slugging skills on May 5th and get an impressive knockout victory. It’s doubtful that the boxing public will want to purchase the Golovkin vs. Munguia fight on HBO PPV though, as it’s too much of a mismatch. The casual boxing fans could get pulled in just by GGG’s name though. In the last 2 years, we’ve seen Canelo passively bringing in PPV buys when fighting on the Mexican holidays against Amir Khan and Liam Smith. Khan and Smith aren’t well-known with the casual boxing fans in the States, and yet Canelo was still able to bring in decent numbers of PPV buys just with him fighting on the Mexican holiday and with his huge fan base. Golovkin might be able to do the same with his fight against Munguia.
This is probably a far worse opponent for Golovkin than O’Sullivan. Munguia doesn’t look as good as O’Sullivan, and his power isn’t as good. The only thing you can really say about Munguia is he’s a good option for Golovkin to fight on Cinco de Mayo. The choice might please some of the Mexican boxing fans that previously planned to come to Las Vegas to see Golovkin fight Canelo. They won’t be able to see that fight due to Canelo pulling out of the contest this week following two positive tests for the banned substance clenbuterol last February. Munguia is a good body puncher, but in looking at his fights, he’s not a huge puncher. For the 154 lb. weight class, Munguia is a good puncher, but he’s not a middleweight and his power doesn’t compare with the harder punchers in that weight class. He’s a small guy like Canelo, but much slower and with absolutely no defensive skills. In the video I’ve seen of Munguia on the net, he was getting hit repeatedly by journeyman in fights that were competitive. It was Munguia’s power that gets him through his fights.
You must be concerned when you see a small novice fighter like Munguia being thrown into the ring with Golovkin on national television on May 5th. This could end up looking bad for the Nevada Commission if they sanction the Golovkin- Munguia fight. If the Mexican kid gets hurt, fingers will be pointed at the Commission for them giving their blessing to this mismatch. Their job is to look out for green fighters to make sure that they’re not being put in over their heads. Golovkin vs. Munguia screams of a fight in which the Mexican youngster is being thrown to the wolf. I don’t think it’ a good idea at all that the Nevada Commission lets this fight happen. Munguia hasn’t fought even a fringe contender at 154, and now he’s about to fight the best fighter in the 160 lb. weight class in GGG. It’s a car crash waiting to happen on May 5th.
If Munguia is the best Golovkin’s management can find, then they need to think seriously about canceling the May 5th fight date and instead wait until June or July to fight a better opponent like Jermall Charlo, Daniel Jacobs or Sergiy Derevyanchenko. Munguia isn’t even from the same weight class as GGG. That in itself is bad enough to make this a horrible fight for the boxing public, especially when they’re going to need to pay to see it on HBO PPV. Munguia has these things going against him in a fight with GGG:
• Munguia has never fought at 160
• No experience fighting contenders
• Slow hand speed
• No defensive ability
• Only punches to the body with power
• Zero name recognition in U.S
Former WBA/WBO junior middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade has been asking for the Golovkin fight on May 5. He’s a far better choice than the little known Munguia. Andrade at least has fought once at 160 against Alantez Fox, and he’s a former world champion at 154. Contrast those credentials with Munguia, with him no experience whatsoever against world class opposition, it’s clear who the better choice is of the two. I would venture to say that Andrade would absolutely obliterate Munguia. It wouldn’t be a fight. Andrade would destroy Munguia. That shows how over-matched the Mexican kid would be if he were to fight Golovkin. Andrade would be out of his element against GGG.
O’Suillivan would have been horribly over-matched against Golovkin, but Munguia is brutally over-matched to the point where you must be worried what could happen to the kid. This fight is going to make Golovkin look like a cherry picker, I hate to say.
If the Golovkin vs. Munguia mismatch is going to take it, then they need to move this fight o regular HBO and not have it shown on PPV, because there will be a lot of angry boxing fans if this fight turns out to be a demolition job by GGG. Some boxing fans think Munguia is a good prospect. I’ve seen enough of his fights to know that he’s not a good fighter, and he’s more of a bottom fringe level guy that will stay there his entire career. When you have zero hand speed and defensive skills like Munguia, you’re not going anywhere. Munguia reminds me of Alfredo Angulo, but without his power. He doesn’t hit as hard as Angulo.