By Brian Webber: A day after Jaime Munguia’s victory over Gonzalo Gaston Coria, the World Boxing Organization has ordered him to begin negotiations with WBO middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly.
The 26-year-old Golden Boy-promoted Munguia (41-0, 33 KOs) and the undefeated Janibek (13-0, 8 KOs) have 15 days to negotiate a fight before a purse bid is ordered.
It would be an interesting fight if it were made. The 2016 Olympian Janibek has better skills than Munguia, but his stamina and size aren’t on the same level.
Janibek looked tired early in his recent unimpressive 12 round unanimous decision win over fringe contender Denzel Bentley on November 12th.
If Janibek isn’t able to knock out Munguia early, it could be a tough fight. Still, Janibek has the boxing skills to defeat Munguia and ruin Golden Boy’s plans of bringing him along for a big money cash-out.
It’s questionable whether Munguia’s promoters at Golden Boy and Zanfer Boxing will agree to take the fight with Janibek. Munguia doesn’t need the WBO to negotiate a fight with Janibek; if Munguia wanted to, he could fight him or the previous champion Demetrius Andrade.
Golden Boy could have matched Munguia against almost anybody in the last five years, but they’ve matched him carefully. They have helped him assemble a 41-0 record, which, unfortunately, is built on fluff opposition.
Munguia called out IBF/WBA middleweight champion Gennadiy Golovkin last Saturday night, saying he wants the 40-year-old next.
Whether Golovkin (42-2-1, 37 KOs) will accommodate Munguia is unclear, as the WBA has already ordered him to fight Erislandy Lara, and the IBF has ordered him to defend against mandatory Esquiva Falcao. Additionally, there’s the possibility Golovkin could face #1 WBA Michael Zerafa.
If Munguia can’t get a voluntary title shot against Golovkin, it still doesn’t mean he would be forced to face Janibek. He could turn it down and continue to take tune-up fights like he’s been doing for the last three years since moving up to 160.
Eventually, Munguia’s promoters will get him a fight against someone that will bring in a load of money, be it Golovkin, WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo or David Benavidez.
As big as Munguia is, he should be fighting at super middleweight because he’s huge for the 160-lb division. It’s understandable why Munguia chooses to fight at middleweight because it gives him an edge against his smaller, weaker opposition. But at some point, Munguia will need to move up to 168 because can’t drain down to 160 forever without weakening himself.
Munguia destroyed Coria (21-6, 8 KOs) by a third round knockout last Saturday night in the main event on DAZN at the Arena Astros in Guadalajara, Mexico.
“The WBO World Championship Committee orders the parties herein to commence the negotiations for the above-referenced bout between Jaime Munguia and Zhanibek Alimkhanuly. The parties are granted 15 days to reach an agreement,” per WBO.
“If an accord is not reached within the time frame outlined herein, a purse bid ceremony will be ordered per WBO Regulations
of World Championship Contests.”
