By Sean Jones: Promoter Fernando Beltran has revealed that negotiations have already begun for a fight between Gennadiy ‘GGG’ Golovkin and Jaime Munguia for May 2021 on DAZN.
Beltran, who promotes former WBO junior middleweight champion Munguia (36-0, 29 KOs), told ESPN the news of the talks between the two power punchers.
Golovkin and Munguia had previously been in talks to fight in 2018, but the match was derailed when it wasn’t approved by one of the state boxing commissions.
The then 22-year-old Munguia lacked the experience at the time to face Golovkin, but that’s changed in the last two years. Munguia is now 24, and he’s picked up experience after capturing the WBO junior middleweight title in 2018.
Munguia sees weakness in Golovkin that he believes he can exploit right now, and he’s chomping at the bit to face the popular fighter.
Talks have started for Golovkin vs. Munguia
This news probably won’t please Matchroom Boxing promoter, Eddie Hearn. On Tuesday, he said that he plans to speak with DAZN about a potential fight between Golovkin (41-1-1, 36 KOs) and WBO 160-lb champion Demetrius ‘Boo Boo’ Andrade for May.
Hearn promotes Andrade, and he wants to match him against a big name, and right now, Golovkin still doesn’t have an opponent for his next fight.
But that could change with Zanfer promoter Beltran starting negotiations for a match between GGG and Munguia for May.
“We are doing well, I think we have a good chance of having this fight, we are just talking,” said Beltrán to ESPN Deportes about a fight between Munguia and Golovkin for May.
Munguia’s co-promoters at Golden Boy Promotions are eager to match the fight with Golovkin, 38, seeing that they feel confident that their fighter is ready to beat the popular Kazakh star.
A victory for Munguia over GGG on the Cinco de Mayo holiday weekend will make a name for the hard-punching former WBO 154lb champion and put him in a strong position to face Canelo in September. Canelo vs. Munguia would be a massive fight in 2021.
If the Golovkin vs. Munguia fight does occur in the first quarter of 2021, it leaves Canelo Alvarez with two options for his match on Cinco de Mayo in May: Billy Joe Saunders and Caleb Plant. Those two belt-holders hold the WBO and IBF straps that Canelo needs to complete his collection of titles at 168.
Golovkin had been mentioned as one of the three options for Canelo’s May fight. However, his chances of getting the fight weren’t considered good, which is why he’s already started negotiating the fight with Munguia.
The Golovkin vs. Munguia winner could land Canelo fight
If Golovkin fights Munguia in May, perhaps a day before Canelo’s fight, it could help build momentum for a trilogy match between him and the Mexico star for September 2021.
Canelo needs a big name opponent to take advantage of all the viewers that will be tuning in to watch his fight in September on the Mexican Independence Day holiday.
If Canelo faces Saunders or Plant, it won’t be the same amount of interest. Those guys aren’t nearly as popular as Golovkin is, and the U.S boxing fans haven’t been pushing for those fights.
It’s Canelo that wants to fight the super middleweight champions Plant and Saunders for arguably selfish reasons so that he can try and become the undisputed 168-pound champion.
Some would argue that by Canelo making it a goal of becoming the undisputed champion at super middleweight with their weak champions, it’s a foxhole for him to avoid GGG, Jermall Charlo, David Benavidez, Artur Beterbiev, and Dimitry Bivol.
Canelo can’t dodge the best forever by choosing his superficial goal of unifying against a band of weak champions at 168.
Would Canelo be trying to unify the super middleweight division if David Benavidez (23-0, 20 KOs) still held the WBC title?
Benavidez doesn’t think he would. Canelo is being an opportunist in taking advantage of the weak bunch of champions at 168, just as he took advantage of a weak champion at 175 in Sergey Kovalev last year.