By Brian Webber: Golden Boy boss Oscar De La Hoya says Jaime Munguia is interested in taking on the ‘Mexican Monster’ David Benavidez next in what he believes could be the “Fight of the Year” for 2023.
De La Hoya revealed the information on Twitter today, letting his one million followers know his intentions on making the Benavidez vs. Munguiaa fight next.
Obviously, this news won’t make Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn happy, as he discussed the idea of putting together a fight between his fighter super middleweight contender Edgar Berlanga and Munguia (42-0, 33 KOs) next.
It’s fair to say that Hearn will be hopping mad once he learns of De La Hoya, ready to start negotiations for the Benavidez vs. Munguia fight. Hearn needs Munguia to help build his fighter Berlanga up to make him a more enticing option for Canelo Alvarez.
Without Munguia, it could be a tough road for Berlanga to earn a fight with Canelo because all Hearn has to offer are the washed British fighters Billy Joe Saunders and John Ryder.
When De La Hoya threw cold water on Hearn’s plans by letting him know on social media that Munguia wouldn’t be fighting Berlanga, the British promoter said he would take the issue to DAZN in what was interpreted as a move to force Oscar to make the Berlanga-Munguia fight next, whether he liked it or not.
On paper, Benavidez-Munguia is a bigger fight than Munguia-Berlanga because Benavidez is a much more popular fighter nationwide in the U.S. than Berlanga (21-0, 16 KOs), who is mainly popular in New York.
Awesome news @jaimemunguia15 is very interested in fighting @Benavidez300. Looking forward to starting discussions in what could possibly be fight of the year!
— Oscar De La Hoya (@OscarDeLaHoya) June 26, 2023
Benavidez is considered one of the three fights that Canelo Alvarez will be taking with his recent three-fight, $100 million+ signing with PBC.
With the fight against Canelo possible for next May, Benavidez (27-0, 23 KOs) would need to decide whether he wants to fight Munguia or play it safe and take a gimme-level opponent while he waits for the massive payday fight with the Mexican superstar.
Benavidez is finding himself the hunted for the first time in his career. WBA ‘regular’ super middleweight champion David Morrell Jr called him out repeatedly last week, taunting him to try and motivate him to accept his challenge.
Morrell (9-0, 8 KOs) has the talent to beat Benavidez and wreck his dreams of fighting Canelo for a massive mega-payday.
The way that Benavidez and his dad/trainer Jose Benavidez were dismissive of Morrell’s challenge suggests that they see him as a dangerous threat they must avoid at all costs.
It wasn’t always that way. Benavidez & his dad were excited at the thought of fighting Morrell, but after the Cuban fighter’s back-to-back knockout wins over Yamaguchi Falcão and Aidos Yerbossynuly, their interest cooled off to the point where he’s no longer a discussion topic for them.
Munguia barely got by Sergiy Derevyanchenko by a twelve-round unanimous decision this month on June 10th in an exciting fight that saw Jaime pull out the victory with a 12th round knockdown.
