By Francisco Salazar

Jaime Munguia’s upcoming world title defense against Patrick Allotey on Sept. 14 will be his last fight at 154 pounds, the WBO junior middleweight titleholder confirmed at a press conference Tuesday in Los Angeles.

Munguia will face Allotey at Dignity Health Sports Park (formerly known as the Stubhub Center) in Carson, California. Preceding the Munguia-Allotey bout will be a 10-round bout between unbeaten lightweight Ryan Garcia and Avery Sparrow.

Both bouts will stream live on DAZN.

The 22-year-old Munguia (33-0, 26 knockouts), who resides in Tijuana, Mexico, will be making the fifth and final defense of the WBO junior middleweight title he won from Sadam Ali on May 12 of last year. His most recent outing came on Apr. 13 in Monterrey, Mexico, where he won a close majority decision over Australia’s Dennis Hogan, a fight many thought Hogan did enough to win.

Prior to Allotey officially being announced as Munguia’s opponent, there were negotiations taking place between Munguia’s representatives and those of Jessie Vargas. Munguia confirmed talks were preliminary stages, but a deal was not able to be reached.

One aspect of a fight against Vargas was reportedly a catchweight of 156 pounds, two pounds more than the 154-pound weight limit.

While there would have been potential unification fights against WBC titleholder Tony Harrison or IBF/ WBA titleholder Julian Williams in 2020, should he defeat Allotey, Munguia has decided to move up in weight.

“I would like to face those fighters, but the (Allotey) fight will be my last at 154 pounds,” said Munguia to a pool of reporters. “We are moving up and competing at 160 pounds.”

Munguia, who is co-promoted by Golden Boy Promotions and Zanfer Promotions, will now focus his efforts on facing the likes of Canelo Alvarez or Gennadiy Golovkin. Whether that happens immediately or two-three fights at middleweight remains to be seen.

There was preliminary discussions of a fight between Golovkin and Munguia on May 4 of last year, which materialized after Alvarez had to withdraw from what would be a rematch against Golovkin from their controversial draw in October of 2017. Since the fight was to take place in Las Vegas, the Nevada Athletic Commission did not sign off on the fight.

Golovkin ended up fighting Vanes Martirosyan in Carson, a fight that ended in round two after Golovkin knocked the Armenian-born fighter out. Munguia would end up fighting Ali after Liam Smith had to withdraw after suffering a skin ailment that forced him to withdraw from the Ali fight.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing