By Dan Ambrose: WBO junior middleweight champion Jaime Munguia (32-0, 26 KOs) will be making what he hopes is an easy defense this Saturday night on April 13 against his mandatory challenger Dennis Hogan (28-1-1, 7 KOs) on DAZN. This isn’t a glamorous fight like the ones out there waiting for the young 22-year-old Munguia in the middleweight division against the likes of Saul Canelo Alvarez, Gennady Golovkin and Daniel Jacobs. It’s still an important fight for Munguia, as he needs to win, stay undefeated and look good against the Australian challenger.
Munguia-Hogan will be taking place this Saturday, April 13 at the Arena Monterrey in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico.
Hogan doesn’t have much of a background in terms of wins during his eight-year pro career. Hogan’s best wins have come against Tyrone Brunson and ‘Jimmy’ Kilrain Kelly. The latter fighter challenged former WBO junior middleweight champion Liam Smith for his title in December 2015, and was stopped in the 7th round of a one-sided fight.
As weak as Hogan’s career resume is, it’s unknown why the World Boxing Organization has given him a high #1 ranking with their organization. It would make a lot more sense if they waited until Hogan had beaten someone of note before they put him at #1. Hogan stepped and was beaten by Jack Culcay by a 12 round unanimous decision in December 2015. It wasn’t a close fight. Hogan was beaten by the scores 117-111, 119-109 and 116-112. The more accurate score to indicate what took place in the Culcay vs. Hogan fight was the 119-109 score. Culcay dominated Hogan from start to finish.
“We have been advancing, little by little. had four very tough world title fights,” Munguia said about his progression in his six-year pro career. “We’ve been learning a lot, and we’ve been gaining a lot of experience during the past year. I also want to say that I will leave everything in the ring this Saturday. I want you all to see a different Jaime Munguia, a better version with better abilities.”
Munguia needs to do a better job against Hogan than he did in his last title defense against Takeshi Inoue (13-1, 7 KOs) earlier this year on January 26 in Houston, Texas. Although Munguia won the fight by a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision by the scores 119-109, 120-108 and 120-108, it was a grueling affair in which he took a lot of hard shots from the Japanese fighter. That fight showed what a motivated challenger can do just by hanging around, and continuing to attack relentlessly. It didn’t matter that Munguia was the younger, stronger and more talented fighter of the two.
Inoue’s nonstop attacking style made the fight a lot harder than one expected. Munguia was hit a lot in that fight, and he looked a little beaten up at the end. There was no one on the previously unbeaten Inoue’s five-year pro resume that would indicate that he would give Munguia such a difficult fight. Even though Inoue was unbeaten going into the fight with Munguia, he was’t expected to give the Mexican warrior such a hard fight of it. Munguia cannot let that kind of thing happen to him against Hogan. He’s got to go after him and look to get him out of there quickly. Munguia taking punishment against lesser fighters isn’t a good sign. Munguia could have knocked Inoue out if he’s attacked him with prolonged series of hard shots. That’s what was missing from his game plan for the fight. Munguia kept looking for single shots that he would load up on, hoping that he could take Inoue out in the same way he did Sadam Ali last May, but it didn’t work. Inoue’s chin was too good.
“I want to tell Dennis Hogan that this world title will stay in Mexico. He is not a better fighter than me. This fight is dedicated to all of Mexico!” Munguia said.
This will be Munguia’s fourth title defense of his World Boxing Organization 154-pound title he won in stopping champion Sadam Ali (27-2, 14 KOs) in the fourth round on May 12, 2018. Munguia overpowered the smaller Ali, knocking him down four times in the fight before the fight was halted in round four. The performance Munguia put in against Sadam was like watching a young George Foreman stop Joe Frazier in 1973. Munguia didn’t look speedy. He was just powerful, and much too big for Sadam. In Munguia’s subsequent fights, he beat former WBO junior middleweight champion Liam Smith by a 12 round unanimous decision on July 21, 2018, Brandon Cook by a third round knockout on September 15, and then finally Takeshi Inoue by a 12 round unanimous decision on January 26. What’s worrisome about Munguia’s performances against Smith and Inoue is that he was forced to go the full 12 round distance to beat them.
If you compare Saul Canelo Alvarez’s performance in stopping Smith in the ninth round to the way Munguia dealt with the British fighter, there was a huge difference. Canelo used speed and power to trap Smith against the ropes to take him out. Munguia didn’t jump on Smith in the same way, which is why he had to go 12 rounds to beat him. Munguia had the punching power to stop Smith if he’d stopped pausing after throwing power shots. The way to knockout Smith was the way that Canelo did in attacking him with a lot of punches one after another. Munguia might lack the gas tank to fight in that manner.
“I’m happy to be now as my chance to become world champion gets closer,” Hogan said. “I know this will be an excellent fight…I will be going out there to take that world championship. I’m winning on April 13.”
If Hogan can pull off an upset against Munguia, it would be a big blow to Golden Boy Promotions, who want to eventually match the young Mexican knockout artist against Canelo and GGG at middleweight. Losing to a non-puncher like Hogan would be a major shock, as a lot of boxing fans see Munguia as a future star. Right now, Munguia is still looking green, and not ready for the likes of Canelo, Golovkin, Jacobs, Jermall Charlo and Demetrius Andrade. Those fighters are older, and they had amateur careers in boxing. Munguia skipped the amateurs and went straight to the pros, so it’s understandable why he’s lagging behind the progression that those fighters had when they turned pro.
Prediction
Munguia will go after Hogan and look to take him out early. The lack of punching power for Hogan is going to be a real problem for him being able to keep Munguia off of him. Without power to make Munguia respect him, Hogan is going to likely get knocked out early in this fight. This writer sees Munguia knocking out Hogan by the sixth round.