By Jim Maltzman: Jaime Munguia will be facing Maciek Sulecki this summer on June 19th in the main event on DAZN at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas. Mike Coppinger reporting the update on Munguia’s new or, should I say, old opponent.
Sulecki (29-2, 11 KOs) is back in the picture to face the former WBO junior middleweight champion Munguia (36-0, 29 KOs) after recently pulling out their April 23rd scheduled fight against him due to an injury.
After Sulecki’s injury, Golden Boy Promotions replaced him with D’Mitrius Ballard for the April 23 date, but unfortunately, he too suffered injury training, resulting in him backing out of the match. With Ballard out of the fight, Sulecki, 31, is back in.
Sulecki will be a real threat to beating the 24-year-old Munguia, as he’s a top-notch middleweight with experience against Daniel Jacobs, Demetrius Andrade, Hugo Centeno Jr, Jack Culcay, Grzegorz Proksa, and Gabe Rosado.
There’s no question that Sulecki has the better experience as a pro than Munguia, and he’s looked good when facing quality opposition.
Sulecki came close to beating Jacobs in 2018 in a closer fight than the scores turned in by two of the judges who worked the Brooklyn, New York fight.
What’s a little hard to understand is why the promoters for WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo chose to match him against #4 Juan Macias Montiel in his next title defense on June 19th rather than #1 WBC Munguia.
With Munguia fighting on the same date on June 19th, it would have made more sense for him to be the challenger for Charlo rather than his former knockout victim Montiel. Munguia destroyed Montiel in two rounds in February 2017.
Munguia was recently hoping to challenge IBF middleweight champion Gennadiy ‘GGG’ Golovkin, but the fight failed to get negotiated. It’s unclear whether Munguia wanted too much money for the match or what.
Bernard Hopkins of Golden Boy Promotions appeared to be hinting that it was money that got in the way of the Golovkin vs. Munguia fight being made.
It’s too bad for the boxing public and Munguia that the fight with Golovkin didn’t get made because it would have given him a chance to dethrone the recently turned 39-year-old Kazakhstan star.
Munguia might be heading in the wrong direction to be looking to challenge for Charlo’s WBC 160-lb title, as he’s still young at 31, and he’s looking in top form. Of course, none of this will matter if Munguia loses his fight against Sulecki on June 19th.
Munguia held the WBO 154-lb title from 2018 to 2019, making five successful defenses before he outgrew the division and vacated the belt.
Since moving up to middleweight, Munguia has defeated Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan and Tureno Johnson. Munguia struggled against O’Sullivan early, but his power carried him to victory late.