By Sean Jones: Fernando Beltran of Zanfer Promotions is interested in matching Jaime Munguia against Canelo Alvarez, and he views it as an easy fight to make. The former WBO junior middleweight champion Munguia (35-0, 28 KOs) is ready to step it up and challenge for a world title against WBA ‘160-lb champion Canelo after just one fight in the division.
Canelo vs. Munguia easy to make
Betran feels confident that he can make the fight between Canelo and the Golden Boy co-promoted Munguia.
Munguia, 23, moved up to middleweight last January and defeated Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan by an exciting 11th round knockout last January in San Antonio, Texas. Jaime didn’t look good against O’Sullivan, and he needs fights under his belt before he steps up against Canelo or Gennadiy Golovkin
In 2019, Munguia was offered the fight with the superstar Canelo. Instead, he opted to move up to 175 and challenge WBO champion Sergey Kovalev for his title last November. It was the smart move on Canelo’s part to take on Kovalev, seeing that the casual boxing fans knew him better than Munguia.
Golden Boy needs to make the Canelo vs. Munguia fight soon. The former WBO champion Munguia has looked on the verge of losing a couple of his matches recently, and he’s going to get beaten more rapidly or later unless he improves.
Munguia ready to face Canelo
“Canelo Álvarez is under the promotion of Golden Boy Promotions, Jaime Munguía under my promotion in an alliance with Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy. That fight I don’t think he has so many problems to do,” said Beltran to ESPN via Facebook Live Chat.
“Jaime Munguía wants to enter aces poker. Currently, there is the great Canelo Álvarez, Gennadiy Golovkin, and of course Daniel Jacobs, we would like you to consider Jaime. If Jaime is given the opportunity with Canelo tomorrow, we will take it tomorrow.”
Munguia was slated to battle Kanal Islam on the undercard of Canelo’s unification fight against WBO super middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders. That fight is up in the air right now. Saunders’ promoter Eddie Hearn still thinks he can get the Canelo match from June to October.
The knockout artist Munguia won the WBO junior middleweight title with a 4th round knockout victory over Sadam Ali in May 2018. Before vacating the WBO title last year, Munguia defended it successfully five times in two years. The only reason Munguia chose to give up his WBO belt was due to his difficulty making weight for the 154-lb division.
After weighing in, Munguia would blow up to the 170s and looked like a light heavyweight. Munguia’s size gave him a significant advantage over his opponents at 154 and helped him achieve success. It was the same thing that we saw from Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. during his title at middleweight.
Jaime Munguia needs experience
Munguia should be training with Canelo Alvarez rather than trying to fight him. The young fighter doesn’t look prepared to be taking on the elite yet at 160, and there’s no real point in him fighting Canelo. Other than a big payday, Munguia has nothing to gain in taking on the 29-year-old Canelo.
Munguia just moved up to 160 and needs to continue to build before taking on the lions in the division. The boxing public isn’t demanding Canelo fight, Munguia, because they know it would be a mismatch right now.
What Golden Boy and Zanfer Promotions should do with Munguia is have him build-up slowly by fighting fringe level guys for the next four years before putting him in with Canelo or one of the other top fighters in the division.
By that division, Canelo will be in his mid-30s, and vulnerable. Munguia will be hitting his prime at 28, and Canelo would be on his way out of the sport.
