By Mark Eisner: Middleweight contender Jaime Munguia (39-0, 31 KOs) stopped D’Mitrius Ballard (21-1-1, 13 KOs) in the third round on Saturday night at the Bullring by the Sea, Tijuana, Mexico.
Munguia, 25, dropped Ballard in the third round after trapping him against the ropes and then finished him off with a barrage of punches. Ballard was too hurt to recover from being dropped moments earlier.
The little known 2nd tier fighter Ballard was surprisingly competitive until the third round.
Things fell apart for the 28-year-old ”Big Meech’ in moving up against ropes, putting him in a position where couldn’t get out of the way of the much bigger Munguia.
Munguia looked considerably bigger and slower tonight than in his previous fight against Gabe Rosado last November. He’s going to need to trim down if he wants to compete against the better fighters at 160.
In terms of size, Munguia looked like a filled-out super middleweight tonight.
Undercard results:
- In the co-feature bout, lightweight knockout artist William Zepeda (25-0, 23 KOs) roughed up journeyman Luis Viedas (29-12-1, 10 KOs) by a third round knockout. Zepeda, 25, dropped Viedas once in the second and twice in the third round. In the third, Zepeda knocked Viedas down with a right-left combination after trapping him against other ropes. While Viedas was down on the canvas, Zepeda nailed him with a shot to the side. Fortunately for Zepeda, the referee chose not to address the late hit. He could have disqualified Zepeda for that late hit. In the second round, Zepeda was knocked down by the light hitting Viedas after he walked into a shot. In the second round, the referee penalized Zepeda a point for the use of the forearm. The time of the stoppage was at 1:51 of round three. All in all, it was not a great performance from Zepeda. On the positive side, his power was superb and more than enough to trouble the top lightweights. However, Zepeda looked sloppy, slow, and easy to hit. For Zepeda to have a chance against the top lightweights like Vasily Lomachenko and Gervonta Davis, he’s going to need to improve a lot.
- Unbeaten featherweight Rafael Espinoza (18-0, 15 KOs) destroyed Alie Laurel (18-7-1, 11 KOs) by a first round knockdown after knocking him down twice in the round. The time of the stoppage was at 1:37.
Preview
Munguia, 25, fell ill immediately after making weight at Friday’s weigh-in for the fight, but presumably, he’s recovered and not feeling any effects from his ordeal of getting down to the 160-lb limit.
“I’m not, to say the least, impressed with the matchmaking here. D’Mitrius Ballard fought on the undercard of Jaime Munguia’s last fight [in November 2021], and he beat [journeyman] Paul Valenzuela by a decision.
“That’s kind of been the theme for Jaime Munguia. Gabe Rosado fought on his undercard, and he got a fight against Jaime Munguia. D’Mitrius Ballard fights on his undercard, and he gets a fight against Jaime Munguia.
“Five fights in now at 160 lbs, I was willing to give Munguia a couple of fights to get acclimated to a new weight class, but five? We’re now in year three in Jaime Munguia at middleweight,” said Mannix.
“It’s very obvious. They [Team Munguia] just weren’t interested in stepping up to face the top guys, that’s all,” said Dan Rafael. “I mean, again, there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s their choice.
“When he [Munguia] got to 160 after giving up his [WBO] title at 154 lbs, based on their rules, he could have immediately asked to be made the mandatory [to WBO 160-lb champion Demetrius Andrade] as many fighters have done in the past.
“Terence Crawford did it, Demetrius Andrade did it, and many others have done. Jaime could have done the same thing, but they [Team Munguia] made the decision to become more acclimated to take more time to work with Erik Morales when they switched trainers, and they just weren’t interested in doing that. It’s very obvious.
Jaime’s matchmaking hasn’t been impressive
“The matchmaking, not the most impressive I’ve ever seen [for Munguia],” said Rafael. “That said, as I wrote in my column today, I like watching Jaime Munguia. I’m happy to watch him, and I’d like to see him tested against a top guy.
“He’s a very aggressive fighter, he’s got good punching power, and he takes a good punch. He may not be super fast and super skilled, but what he’s got in his heart and in his mentality of go get you, that can deliver you to some big wins.
“I’m not sure why they [Team Munguia] have been so reticent to do that. He’s the kind of fighter where if he takes a loss, who cares? You’re not going to watch Munguia because he’s got an L against a guy that maybe outslicked him for seven rounds in a fight? So I don’t get that.
“He hasn’t fought at home in several years. This is a chance for him to go home and fight in a venue in a famous place in a venue in Tijuana. Honestly, as much as I like watching Jaime Munguia fight, I’m actually more interested in terms of seeing a fight in the weekend in lightweight undefeated knockout artist William Zepeda,” said Rafael.
Jaime passed up Andrade title shot
“With Munguia, the [Demetrius] Andrade stuff kind of drives me a little crazy,” said Mannix. “I said to Eric Gomez [of Golden Boy Promotions] last December. ‘Why are you guys fighting eliminators? You have a world champion in Andrade.'”
“They [Golden Boy] just don’t want that fight [for Munguia],” said Rafael about Golden Boy not interested in letting Munguia face the highly talented Demetrius Andrade for obvious reasons.
“Let’s say Canelo goes the GGG route. After this fight [Ballard], do you keep fighting the Carlos Adames’ of the world? Andrade is moving up to 168. [Jermall] Charlo, presumably one way or the other, is going to go up to 168.
“All of a sudden, Munguia is looking around. Yeah, he can collect a title, but are you going to do it fighting guys that nobody is interested in seeing you fight at this point? I think there was a window for him to test his skills.
“Andrade would have been a good test of skills. You kind of alluded to it. If he loses by getting outboxed by a slick boxer, that Demetrius Andrade. He could lose that fight but Andrade isn’t going to beat him up. Andrade is going to dominate Munguia.
“Anyone that says that have not watched enough of Jaime Munguia and Demetrius Andrade over the last couple of years. Munguia is better. Erik Morales, even though he has completely ditched defense, he has made Munguia into an offensive machine.
“He is a very, very good offensive fighter, whereas, Demetrius Andrade, as skilled as he is, he gets tagged by punches and he’s not the most active puncher at times, whereas Munguia throws 70 punches per round. He is an active guy in the middleweight division.
“So, I feel like that might have been an active opportunity that has now been missed with Andrade moving up,” said Mannix.
“I think it probably has been, but I don’t think there’s been a huge public demand to see Munguia vs. Andrade, unfortunately,” said Rafael. “There hasn’t been much demand for anything against Andrade, so I understand.
“I’d be interested in that fight because it does match two of the top guys, and whatever happens happens. You mentioned Carlos Adames, not the most well known guy, but that would be a pretty good fight actually.
“Adam is a very rugged fighter, comes forward, has some good skills, takes a good shot and power is pretty solid. That would be a pretty fun trench fight.
“That would be interesting, but the name recognition for Adames is just not there. I’m not that worried about Jaime Munguia,” said Rafael.
Munguia can beat a lot of fighters
“He’s not at the point where the money he’s making isn’t so overwhelming where there’s someone willing to put him on as a programming package,” Rafael said.
“So if Golden Boy and DAZN are doing fights regularly and your in for a couple of Jaime Munguia fights each year, maybe three fights a year, I don’t think that’s a problem for anybody.
“He has popularity among Mexican fans. If you like action fighters and you want to watch him, he needs a bigger-name opponent.
“For whatever reason, and I don’t think this is a Golden Boy issue, I think it’s a Team Munguia issue, they just have not been vocal in any way shape, or form in stepping up and taking on an opponent that is more recognizable to the public or press or whatever, and they’re content to do what they’re doing and Ballard is another example of that [match-making strategy],” said Rafael.
“I think Munguia would beat a lot of these guys,” said Mannix. “He’s got a good chin, good power, and active like I said. He’s a good fighter. I’d like to see him test himself at some point this year,” said Mannix.