By Chris Williams: Jaime Munguia will be back inside the ring next month to defend his World Boxing Organization junior middleweight title against #3 WBO Takeshi Inoue LIVE on DAZN on January 26 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. Munguia-Inoue will be the headliner on the January 26 card. Munguia (31-0, 26 KOs) is trying to keep the momentum going on his still young career after defeating Sadam Ali by a 4th round knockout last May to win the WBO 154 lb title.
This is a stay busy fight for Munguia to keep him sharp and to let the U.S boxing fans see more of him on DAZN. It would be nice to see Munguia’s handlers step up a level against someone that can fight back like Julian ‘J-Rock’ Williams, Erislandy Lara or Maciej Sulecki, but it doesn’t look like they want to take that risk with the young fighter yet. Munguia will get tested sooner or later, but just not yet, and probably not at all in 2019.
Not much is known about the 29-yard-old Inoue, as he’s been fighting in Japan against weaker opposition, and done zero to deserve his high ranking with the WBO. Inoue clearly doesn’t rate a title shot against Munugia. Inoue is in the right place and the right time just when Munguia needs a beatable opponent for his next title defense.
Munguia has since successfully defended his WBO belt twice in stopping Brandon Cook by a 3rd round knockout last September in Las Vegas, Nevada, and before that beating former WBO junior middleweight champion Liam Smith by a 12 round unanimous decision last July. Munguia wanted to KO Smith the way that Canelo had two years ago, but he failed to dent his chin. Canelo was a little older than Munguia when he stopped Smith though.
Munguia needs to keep winning, as he can make a lot of money with his career if he’s able to increase his popularity to the same level as Mexican star Saul Canelo Alvarez. Despite Munguia being only 22, he’s behind where Canelo Alvarez was when he was the same age. Canelo started his career in 2005 at age 15. Canelo won his first world title at age 21. Canelo has been given a big push by his promoters at Golden Boy to get him world title shots. In contrast, Munguia started his pro career five years ago in 2013 at age 17, and he’s been moving upwards ever since.
When Munguia does eventually face Canelo, he’s going to make a lot of money. Both of them will. It’s going to be an interesting fight from start to finish. Canelo was getting hit a lot last Saturday in his win over WBA World super middleweight champion Rocky Fielding. Since Munguia is basically a super middleweight himself in terms of his weight, he could be a problem for Canelo when the two of them face each other in the future.
Munguia was lucky that he didn’t fight Gennady Golovkin earlier this year as a replacement for Cnelo on Cinco de Mayo. That would have been a little too early for Munguia to be fighting a guy with that kind of talent, and likely would have ended badly for him. The Nevada State Athletic Commission rejected Munguia as an option for GGG’s fight last May. This left Munguia free to get picked by Golden Boy to challenge WBO 154 lb champion Sadam Ali on May 12, and he made easy work of him in stopping him in the 4th. Now that Munguia has the belt, he’s been looking very good in beating the challengers that have been put in front of him by his promoters.