By Jim Calfa: DAZN wants to know if fans want to see Gennadiy Golovkin against forme WBO 154-lb champion Jaime Munguia. That’s a fight that presumably could be happening soon, as the 25-year-old Munguia (38-0, 30 KOs) is putting pressure on the soon-to-be 40-year-old IBF middleweight champion Golovkin (41-1-1, 36 KOs).
At this point, people want to see GGG back in the ring with ANYBODY, even an undeserving contender like Munguia. It’s not the fight that fans would prefer to see involving Golovkin, but if this is all they can get, they’ll take it.
There’s an excellent chance that boxing fans will see Golovkin and Munguia fight in 2022 if the two win their next fights.
Munguia has taken a lot of flak from boxing fans for his decision NOT to take advantage of his #1 ranking with the WBO to challenge champion Demetrius Andrade and then to choose not to take part in a title eliminator against Carlos Adames.
It looks to some like Munguia is only dialed into getting a fight against Golovkin, which you can undoubtedly understand because it would make the former WBO 154lb champion millions. Still, it’s disappointing to see Jaime walk away from fights against world champion Andrade and the formidable contender Adames.
Golovkin will be facing WBA 160-lb champion Ryota Murata (16-2, 13 KOs) soon once the travel ban to Japan is lifted. GGG and Murata were supposed to have fought last December, but the travel ban canceled the fight.
Would you like to see GGG vs. Munguia? 👀
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) January 15, 2022
Munguia has a fight next month against D’Mitrius Ballard (21-0-1, 13 KOs) on February 19th on DAZN in the main event at the Plaza de Toros, Tijuana, Mexico.
While it is a decent stay-busy fight for Munguia, it looks terrible when you factor in that he could have been fighting for a world title against Demetrius Andrade instead or at the very least be taking on Carlos Adames in a title eliminator at 160.
What further makes Munguia look bad is that Ballard isn’t a top 15 ranked contender at 160. In other words, Munguia is choosing to face a second-tier fighter in a headliner on DAZN on February 19th.
Ideally, boxing fans would prefer the main event fights on DAZN to be competitive fights on paper involving either a world champion or two highly ranked contenders. In the case of Munguia vs. Ballard, you’ve got a contender facing a guy not ranked in the top 15, who looked poor in his recent fights against journeyman Paul Valenzuela Jr and Yamaguchi Falcao.
For Golovkin, he must get back in the ring soon because he wasted all of 2021 waiting for that one payday fight against the 35-year-old Murata, and then it didn’t happen.
Murata is in bad shape with his career, considering he hasn’t fought in two years. How the World Boxing Association is letting Murata hold onto his 160-lb title without stripping him is anyone’s guess.
It must be bad for the contenders in the WBA’s top 15 ranking at 160, with Murata sitting inactive for two solid years, not defending his title.