By Dan Ambrose: Golden Boy boss Oscar De La Hoya says his plans are for him to make a fight between unbeaten Jaime Munguia and WBA middleweight champion Gennadiy Golovkin this year.
De La Hoya feels that Munguia (41-0, 33 KOs) will be the first to knock out Golovkin (42-2-1, 37 KOs) when that fight comes to fruition.
For that fight, De La Hoya must make an outrageous offer to get Golovkin to agree to fight the 26-year-old Munguia because there’s no way to force him to sign for it.
Munguia isn’t ranked in the top 15 with the WBA, so De La Hoya won’t be able to force Golovkin to defend against Jaime this year.
Even if De La Hoya could force Golovkin to take the fight, he could vacate his WBA belt, as he recently did with his IBF strap after the International Boxing Federation ordered him to defend against Esquiva Falcao
“My dream fight for Jaime Munguia would be Golovkin, and I can say on record that he can be the first one that can knock out Golovkin. That’s what Munguia can do, whether it’s at 160 or 168,” said Oscar De La Hoya to Fighthype. “Jaime Munguia is ready for the big fights this year.
“I’m going to push as hard as I can this year to go after everyone at 160 or 168 for Jaime Munguia for Jaime Munguia. The fact that we’re closing this fight with Ryan Garcia and Tank Davis and working with PBC and Al Haymon, I think it makes it much easier to make these fights happen.
“For us, it’s going back to the drawing board to see what we can get for Jaime, but my plan is to get him the Golovkin fight because I know he can knock him out,” said De La Hoya.
A more realistic target for De La Hoya this year would be for him to make an offer to Top Rank to let Munguia challenge WBO middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly. It’s safe to say that Top Rank wouldn’t hesitate to make a fight between their fighter Janibek (13-0, 8 KOs) and Munguia if the opportunity presented itself.
De La Hoya would probably refuse to match Munguia against Janibek because he’s dangerous and would be looking to wreck his fighter and expose him as a fighter with a fluff record.
Munguia had his chance to fight Golovkin years ago, but the match failed to happen because one of the commissions blocked it. At the time, Munguia lacked the experience, which sadly is still the case now after ten years in the pro ranks.