The mood was understandably festive as Showtime released its slate of boxing events scheduled through mid-summer, complete with seven title fights.

If there was a letdown among the nine announced fight dates between now and July 9, it is the main event that graces the June 18 Showtime Championship Boxing telecast. The date is occupied by WBC middleweight titlist Jermall Charlo (32-0, 22KOs), who for the second straight year will headline a boxing event in celebration of the Juneteenth holiday which will take place in his hometown of Houston, Texas.

Charlo will face Poland’s Maciej Sulecki (30-2, 11KOs), a fight that came about in recent days after a late collapse in attempting to finalize terms for a far more anticipated showdown with Tijuana’s Jaime Munguia (39-0, 31KOs). Terms were reached, only for Munguia’s side—including co-promoter Golden Boy Promotions—introducing new demands that eventually forced a standoff and Showtime moving on for the sake of moving forward with its announcement.  

“I have no doubt that Munguia wants that fight,” Stephen Espinoza, president of sports and event programming for Showtime Networks Inc. stated during the full schedule announcement conducted Tuesday afternoon via Zoom. “I would never question the heart of a fighter, certainly someone as accomplished as Munguia. But we had a deal. Munguia reached a deal, he accepted the terms of the fight. So I have no doubt he negotiated, he reached out and said he was willing to accept the fight on these terms. For us, his part was done. He accepted the fight.

“Things broke down over networks, Munguia’s promoters requested we bring in another platform to collaborate with. The reality is that it didn’t make sense.”

A last-ditch effort was made by Showtime and Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) to salvage the fight, including twice extending its own deadline to hold out hope until the eleventh hour that Munguia and his side would see the light. Golden Boy Promotions founder and chairman Oscar De La Hoya instead chose to go public with his demands. At the top of the list was his claims that sports streaming service DAZN—which has aired Munguia’s last five fights and nearly all Golden Boy shows dating back to December 2018—absolutely had to be involved with the promotion, suggesting a joint pay-per-view between the two platforms.

De La Hoya was alone—at least publicly—in that vision. Neither Showtime nor DAZN were interested in staging the fight as a pay-per-view event, nor was there ever a discussion among platforms for a joint promotion. The Hall of Fame former six-division champion ultimately talked Munguia—a former WBO junior middleweight titlist and current top-rated middleweight contender—out of a career-high payday and a chance to become a two-division champ.

“We tried to make concessions, alternating – we get the (first) fight, Munguia’s network can get the rematch,” revealed Espinoza. “Ultimately, that never got anywhere. We weren’t able to reach an agreement.

“We had to move on and get Jermall the best alternative after that.”

The opportunity now goes to Sulecki, who has won two straight since his lone other title challenge—a June 2019 twelve-round shutout loss to unbeaten WBO middleweight titlist Demetrius Andrade (31-0, 19KOs) in the champion’s hometown of Providence, Rhode Island. Sulecki’s only other career defeat came in an April 2018 unanimous decision at the hands of Daniel Jacobs, who went on to win the vacant IBF middleweight belt in his next fight.

Sulecki’s last two fights have taken place in his native Poland, including an eight-round decision last December. The fight came after Sulecki twice pulled out of scheduled fights with Munguia after reportedly suffering an injury.

Charlo will attempt the fifth defense of the middleweight title he received in June 2019 after the WBC upgraded his interim title. The 31-year-old from the greater Houston area—who previously held the IBF junior middleweight title—will enter the ring exactly 52 weeks to the date of his twelve-round, unanimous decision win over Juan Macias Montiel last June 19 at Toyota Center in Houston.

The Toyota Center remains a possibility to land Charlo-Sulecki, though the venue has yet to be confirmed as this goes to publish.

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