By: Sean Crose
“Whoever has a world champion,” Jaime Munguia told me at the end of 2019, “I want to go up against him.” Munguia, who was only a few days away from facing Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan at the time, was referring to the current generation of world middleweights. Now, having come to an end three years later, Munguia is yet to face a world title holder. He has fought six opponents since we spoke, and has successfully defeated all six. However, the man has yet to face a major name. O’Sullivan and Gabe Rosado are certainly quality fighters, but one would expect more in Munguia.
Needless to say, critics of Munguia, 26, are not pleased with the level of competition Munguia will face Saturday night in Guadalajara. Like Forbes Munguia said that Munguia was “fighting a rival in Gonzalo Coria that almost no one had heard of and probably barely had a chance to deal with.” This is clearly not the kind of statement Munguia might want to write about him in a major publication. However, pure boxing publications – and their respective journalists – are also expressing displeasure with Munguia’s current career state. Suffice it to say, the man has good reason to perform brilliantly this weekend.
At 40-0, there’s no doubt Munguia has had an impressive career no matter how one wants to see it. All but 8 of his fights ended in the gap. Furthermore, Munguia is a former world champion boxer, winning the WBO junior middleweight belt against Sadam Ali in 2018 before successfully defending the title a total of five times against opponents like Liam Smith and Takeshi Inoue, both notable boxers. However, the recent list of opponents for the Mexican-born has disappointed those who were expecting to see the powerful puncher take part in high-level competitions at this time.
For Coria – this is clearly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the unknown boxer. Boasting a record of 21-5, the 25-year-old Argentinian is not a top contender, even though he has won his last three matches in a row. If he wins tonight in Mexico, this man is sure to become the talk of the fighting world, which has brought the boxing public to the disappointment of the year. However, beating Munguia would be a tall order, especially for someone who had never faced such a level of competition before. However, boxing is boxing, one never knows.
