Munguia-Hogan Announced for April 13 at Arena Monterrey

By Jake Donovan

Jaime Munguia didn’t get a desired fifth fight to close out his 2018 campaign, but his 2019 schedule is already on course to match, if not surpass his breakout year.

The unbeaten super welterweight returns to his native Mexico for the first time in more than a year, and for his first-time ever as a defending titlist. Munguia’s title defense versus Dennis Hogan is officially locked in for April 13 at Arena Monterrey in Monterrey, Mexico, with the event—which will stream live on DAZN—formally announced Wednesday in Mexico.

It will mark the first title fight at the famed venue in nearly five years, although a damn tough one to match. Local boxer Francisco Rodriguez Jr. survived a hellacious war with Katsunari Takayama in a blood-soaked Aug. ’14 108-pound unification clash which BoxingScene.com recognized as 2014 Fight of the Year.

In bringing home this title fight, Zanfer and the DAZN team return to Mexico just two months after the sports streaming platform made its south-of-the-border debut in February. That occasion also featured a sensational war, with Humberto Soto upending Brandon Rios in a battle of faded former titlists in Tijuana, from where Soto and Munguia both hail.

The April 13 show will mark DAZN's first major title fight in Mexico.

“We are committed to bringing the best fights home to Mexico,” noted Zanfer Promotions’ Fernando Beltran, Munguia’s lead promoter.

Munguia (32-0, 26KOs) will attempt the fourth defense of the 154-pound title he claimed just last May in a one-sided 4th round stoppage of Sadam Ali last May in Verona, New York. The title opportunity marked just the second fight in the U.S. for the 22-year young slugger from Tijuana, who had remained north of the border for each of his three title defenses.

The latest came this past January in Houston in a 12-round win over Japan’s Takeshi Inoue, who’d never lost before and didn’t go down without a fight. Munguia accepted the voluntary defense with the understanding that a title defense in Mexico would be next on the list, with Zanfer Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions making good on that promise.

Initial plans called for Munguia to squeeze in one more optional defense before entering talks with Australia’s Hogan, his mandatory challenger. The reason for wanting to pursue that route was due to the belief that a deal couldn’t be reached in time for the mandatory title fight, but the World Boxing Organization (WBO) helped expedite matters in ordering a 30-day negotiating period which came dangerously close to going to purse bid.

The best-case scenario instead played out, with a deal reached and leaving room for bigger fights assuming all goes well in April.

“I am confident that we will deliver a great fight to the fans,” Munguia said during the press conference event, which his opponent was unable to attend. “(Hogan) is the number-one challenger in the world and has never been knocked down. We will have to win this fight round-by-round.”

Hogan (28-1-1, 7KOs)—a 34-year old Irishman who now lives in and fights out of Australia—will fight for the first time in Mexico, although it won’t be his first road trip. His lone loss came in hostile territory, dropping a 12-round decision to Germany’s Jack Cuclay in their Dec. ’15 interim title fight in Wilhelmsburg, Germany.

Six straight wins have followed, including the most recent of his four career fights in the United States—a six-round win over former title challenger Angel Hernandez—before returning home for his last five starts. Decision wins over Jimmy Kilrain Kelly and Jamie Weetch elevated the scrappy Hogan to the top contender position.

Oddsmakers place him as a considerable long shot to win on the road, a concept his team openly embraces.

“It’s great to hear Team Munguia and Golden Boy talk about Munguia’s next (potential) opponents after Dennis,” quipped Paul Keegan, Hogan’s manager of surrounding talk regarding potential unification bouts down the road. “It will make it all the sweeter when Dennis puts that world title around his waist. They don’t know what’s coming.”

The challenger himself claims to know exactly what’s coming—and where he was willing to travel in order to realize his dream.

“Bring me to a field in Russia, I don’t care. This is a world title opportunity for me,” Hogan recently claimed during a local news interview in Australia. “We’re going to do what we have to do to come out with the win.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox