Jaime Munguia – The Throwback

In May of 2018 Jaime Munguia was passed over by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for the opportunity to step into the ring against Gennady Golovkin as a late replacement for the Kazakh’s originally scheduled rematch with Canelo Alvarez. Instead, we saw GGG face off against former 154 lbs contender, Vanes Martirosyan, who had not fought in 2 years. For many spectators and the athletic commission alike, Munguia was a nonentity, a baby faced 20 year old Mexican kid who was considered to be too inexperienced and a less competitive match for GGG than a smaller fighter a few years removed from relevancy.

However, the Mexican has since had a pretty good go at making us all look stupid. One week after we saw Golovkin demolish the man that could have been him, Munguia stepped into the ring to challenge for a world title fight as a late replacement against Sadam Ali, who was originally scheduled to face mandatory challenger Liam Smith. For many observers Munguia was a name they had heard mostly due to the Golovkin controversy and this would be their first time tuning in to watch him headline a card on HBO. Munguia did not disappoint. The fight was little more than a demolition job where we saw the challenger land 50% of his power shots, score 4 knockdowns and stop the defending champion in the fourth round. Suddenly the public knew his name.

Despite the Ali fight being somewhat of a coming out party, this was not the beginning of Munguia’s story. Unlike the majority of Mexican fighters we see in the pro ranks, the 21 year old had an extensive amateur career where he picked up a national gold medal among other accolades in his 138 (128-10) fight amateur career, before turning professional at 16. In just 5 short years, Munguia has racked up an impressive 31(26)-0 record where he has earned the right to be called “Ring Magazine Prospect of the Year 2017” and “World Champion”.

It is difficult to look at Munguia and think of any word other than ‘throwback’. An aggressive power puncher who takes fights against world champions on 7 days notice and has fought five times so far in 2018. If he keeps up this pace, it is not far fetched to think we may have seen him fight 7 times within a 12 month span by the time the year is out.

The future is looking bright for Jaime Munguia, with a potential all-Mexican super fight against Canelo (a personal goal he has mentioned in other interviews) looking quite possible in the next 12-18 months. Until then, there is no shortage of quality fights to make involving him at 154 and 160. Jarrett Hurd, David Lemieux or either Charlo twin are all mouth-watering contests to consider for fans of violence.