By Barry Holbrook: Promoter Fernando Beltran says he’s going to have his fighter Jaime Munguia return to the ring in April if he can’t get the fight against IBF middleweight champion Gennadiy ‘GGG’ Golovkin for May.
Negotiations haven’t started for the Golovkin vs. Munguia fight, which is a bad signal for that match.
It’s unclear why Golovkin (41-1-1, 36 KOs) hasn’t started talks for a match against former WBO junior middleweight champion Munguia (36-0, 29 KOs). If Golovkin. 38, is holding out hope that he might get the fight with Canelo Alvarez in May, he should consider giving up on that idea.
Canelo is expected to take on WBO 168-lb champion Billy Joe Saunders on May 8th. Golovkin’s best chance of getting the trilogy match against Canelo is in December after the Mexican star faces Saunders in May and IBF champion Caleb Plant in September.
“Munguía’s with Golovkin is a fight that I like a lot, we are looking for it, but in case nothing is achieved, we will fight in April. We are not going to wait until they say,” Beltrán said to ESPN KNOCKOUT.
“Jaime has everything to be a star and that is why we seek to keep him active and improving.
Given that it’s February, it might be a good idea for Beltran to start planning for Munguia to fight in April. If Golovkin were truly interested in fighting Munguia, he likely would have made the move by now to put that fight together.
You can understand why Golovkin wouldn’t want to fight Munguia, as it’s a risky fight for him due to his power, size, and youth. Golovkin is no spring chicken at 38, and he’ll be turning 39 in April.
Canelo might slip in a fourth fight this year in December, which would be perfect for Golovkin. In the meantime, Golovkin needs to start fighting world-class opposition once again, as his last fight was a horrible one with him destroying his hapless IBF mandatory Kamil Szeremeta by a seventh-round stoppage.
Szeremeta looked like a fighter that belonged in the second-tier and not a mandatory. The International Boxing Federation dropped the ball on that one in making Szeremeta as Golovkin’s mandatory instead of a talented fighter that deserves to be in the top spot.
If#1 WBC, #1 WBO, #4 IBF, #6 WBA Munguia fails to get the GGG fight in May, he could face Kanat Islam (27-0,21 KOs) in April.
“We have a lot of interest, we had some talks with our partner Fernando Beltrán and we are looking at that possibility, there is a lot of interest, we obviously have Jaime Munguía in mind for the boxing events on the Cinco de Mayo weekend, and if not Gennadiy Golovkin, we are looking at other options, ”Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gómez said.
Munguia must avoid a loss because if he loses, it’ll wreck his chances for a big payday against Golovkin.
With Canelo having moved up to 168, the only chances for the 24-year-old Munguia to get that fight is if he moves up to 168.