Jaime Munguia – Daniel Jacobs in talks for June 11th at 164 lb catchweight

By Boxing News - 03/29/2022 - Comments

By Allan Fox: Jaime Munguia and Daniel Jacobs are in talks for a June 11 catchweight fight at 164 lbs. This fight could wind up on DAZN.  ESPN Desportes is reporting the news of the Munguia vs. Jacobs negotiations.

Munguia hasn’t made many new fans with his decision to pass up a title shot against WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade or fight for the talented Golovkin-esque Janibek Alimkhanuly for the interim WBO 160-lb title.

If Munguia had taken the fight with Janibek, he would have been installed as the new WBO middleweight champion after Andrade vacated his World Boxing Organization belt.

Of course, Munguia would have had to beat the talented Janibek (11-0, 7 KOs), and there are a lot of doubts about whether he could have accomplished that. We’re talking about levels here. If I were Munguia’s promoter, I wouldn’t let him get anywhere near Janibek.

Instead of Munguia battling for the WBO belt against Janibek or Andrade, he’s facing the fading 35-year-old Danny Jacobs, who has arguably lost three out of his last four fights since 2019. This is good match-making by Golden Boy.

Munguia can probably beat what’s level of the faded veteran Jacobs, as long as he doesn’t get hit with anything in the first six rounds. What we’ve seen from Jacobs in his last two fights against John Ryder and Gabe Rosado is a fighter that is well past his prime.

As long as Munguia doesn’t run into something in the first six rounds, he’ll bat Jacobs around the ring in the second half of the fight, as long as he can make him let go once he starts clinching nonstop.

The fight is still not a done deal, but according to ESPN Deportes, it’s a fight that could happen. This will give Munguia his second fight this year on DAZN if it gets made.

Image: Jaime Munguia - Daniel Jacobs in talks for June 11th at 164 lb catchweight

As big as Munguia (39-0, 31 KOs) is, it’s hard to know why he would need a catchweight of 164 lbs for a fight against Jacobs.

Munguia looked sickly in appearance in making weight for his last fight against little-known second-tier fighter D’Mitrius Ballard on February 19th in Tijuana, Mexico. At this point in his career, Munguia looks big enough to compete at 168.

Whether Munguia has enough talent to mix it with super middleweights is another matter. Still, in terms of size, he’s more than big enough to compete in the 168-pound weight class without the need for a catchweight handicap against a faded old guy like Jacobs.

The 25-year-old Munguia made weight and then quickly knocked out Ballard in the third round.

It’s unclear where Golden Boy found Ballard and why they insisted on Munguia fighting him, but he looked good against the unknown.

The 35-year-old Jacobs (37-4, 30 KOs) lost his last fight against John Ryder by a 12 round split decision last February 12 in London, England.

Fans of Jacobs screamed bloody murder after the fight, feeling that he deserved the win, but he earned the defeat.

Jacobs was purely negative, holding, running, and looking to survive the distance. There are no words to describe how bad Jacobs looked against Ryder.

Jacobs gassed out after six rounds and spent the better part of the last six rounds either clinging to Ryder or running from him and looking as if his focus was to survive.

Whether you felt Jacobs won or not, you can say that his performance in that fight and his previous effort against Gabe Rosado weren’t impressive enough for him to rate a clash against Munguia on June 11th.

There wouldn’t be an issue if this fight were buried on an undercard, but it’s not main event material.

The 35-year-old Jacobs is looking too old now, and it’s not enough that he used to be an excellent B-level fighter that put in respectable performances in losing to Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin. Jacobs’ best wins in his career were against Sergio Mora, a belt holder at 154.

The former WBO junior middleweight champion Munguia (39-0, 31 KOs) had been in negotiations for a title shot against WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo. Still, the talks reportedly fizzled out over the broadcast rights for the fight.

Munguia’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy, said they wanted Showtime to allow DAZN to stream the Charlo-Munguia fight, but they weren’t open to that idea.

Not surprisingly, Showtime wanted to be the one that put on the Charlo vs. Munguia fight. It would have been a decent match-up, but it wouldn’t have brought in big enough numbers to be shared with DAZN.

From Showtime’s perspective, you could understand why they wouldn’t want it to be a dual network affair because the numbers wouldn’t have been big enough.

If this were Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao, it would have made sense for Showtime to allow DAZN to share in the broadcaster, but we’re talking Charlo vs. Munguia.

Image: Jaime Munguia - Daniel Jacobs in talks for June 11th at 164 lb catchweight

Unfortunately, Munguia hasn’t fought the kind of guys to become a huge name during his career. You can say the same thing about Jermall Charlo. Although he’s held the WBC 160-lb title since 2018, he’s fought no one talented or popular enough to move the needle.

When Munguia fought at 154 from 2013 to 2019, he exclusively fought B & C level opposition and never mixed it up with anyone near the elite level.

There were a lot of guys at 154 that would have likely beaten Munguia. Dennis Hogan arguably beat him in 2019 in a fight in Monterrey, Mexico.

After the fight, Munguia was loudly booed by the boxing fans when the announcer revealed that the judges had given him a 12 round majority decision over the visiting Hogan. That’s pretty bad when your hometown fans boo you, but Munguiao looked clueless against Hogan.

There’s no word yet whether DAZN will place the Munguia – Jacobs fight on pay-per-view like the Canelo Alvarez vs. Dmitry Bivol fight on May 7th, but that’ll be interesting to see the reaction from their monthly subscribers if that happens.

It would be a terrible idea for DAZN to put Munguia vs. Jacobs on PPV, but it wouldn’t surprise this writer if that happens.

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