By Jake Donovan
Whatever aspirations Jaime Munguia might have of one day competing at middleweight, there was only one notable taker heading into his most recent 154-pound title defense.
Prior to his fight with Japan’s Takeshi Inoue, there were talks of the unbeaten 22-year old from Tijuana, Mexico one day moving up to 160 to face countryman and reigning World middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez. Perhaps there would even come the chance of revisiting an old desired target in Gennady Golovkin, whom he was tabbed to face last May before the Nevada State Athletic Commission nixed the idea.
Still, just hours before his DAZN debut, the only one to directly comment on his fight was the one middleweight nobody seems to be in a hurry to face.
“Good luck to Jamie Munguia tonight, look forward to seeing you soon,” unbeaten middleweight Demetrius Andrade (27-0, 17KOs) stated through his verified social media account, shortly before Munguia would emerge victorious.
The unbeaten super welterweight titlist fended off a determined Inoue, winning a surprisingly lopsided decision in their DAZN-streamed main event Saturday evening in front of 7,408 in attendance at Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. Scores of 120-108 (twice) and 119-109 didn’t quite serve the fight justice, but still had the right guy winning in the end.
DAZN’s Chris Mannix attempted to offer Munguia (32-0, 26KOs) an alibi for his rough start and fight-long inability to keep Inoue at bay, raising rumors of weight struggles heading into Friday’s official pre-fight weigh-in.
It was perhaps the only punch of the night the defending champ managed to cleanly slip.
“There was no problem making weight,” Munguia told DAZN’s Mannix after the win, his fourth in a title fight. “I have no problem fighting a few more times at 154, then moving up to 160.”
Should he stay at 154, his next adventure will likely come in the form of a springtime mandatory title defense versus Australia’s Dennis Hogan. It might be worth pursuing, considering all of the top middleweights are handling other business and the rest of the best super welterweights all reside under the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) umbrella.
Even in limited to attainable fights within DAZN’s universe, Alvarez is signed and sealed for an attractive May 4 middleweight title unification clash with recently crowned beltholder Daniel Jacobs.
Meanwhile, Andrade—who was the first major boxer to sign with DAZN and the platform’s primary content provider, promoter Eddie Hearn—has been ordered to negotiate a mandatory title defense versus unbeaten former champ Billy Joe Saunders.
Assuming both Munguia and Andrade pursue their mandatory obligations and win out, a head-on collision can come of it in lieu of standing in line to wait out the May 4 winner between Alvarez and Jacobs.
When presented with Andrade’s teased offer, Munguia didn’t at all shy away from the idea.
“Yes, of course. I accept the challenge,” Munguia bluntly stated afterward.
