Jaime Munguia will be hooking up with trainer Eddy Reynoso to take over as his new coach following his upset fifth-round knockout loss to little-known Bruno Surace last December.
Talent Deficit
This is a pointless, futile move on Munguia’s part because Eddy Reynoso isn’t a magician who will magically give him talent that doesn’t exist. This is like rearranging deck chairs on a sinking ship. Reynoso can’t save him.
Munguia (44-2, 35 KOs) is moving on from Erik Morales, the captain of his sinking ship, in his knockout defeat to Surace on December 14th in Tijuana, Mexico. Morales did the best he could with Munguia, but he couldn’t block Surace’s Cobra-like punches.
It was only a matter of time before he got knocked out in that fight, and it wasn’t a shock when it happened. If Munguia possessed Erik Morales’ talent, he wouldn’t need to be moving on to his third coach.
Reynoso told @BoxAzteca7 that he’ll work with the super middleweight contender Munguia. This will enable Jaime to rub shoulders with Canelo Alvarez, who gave him a much-criticized title shot last year after his wins against these three fighters:
– John Ryder: *coming off a loss to Canelo
– Sergiy Derevyanchenko: 39
– Gonzalo Gaston Coria
Most would agree Canelo should have never given Munguia a title shot based on his three wins at super middleweight after he’d moved up to 168 in 2023. Munguia had looked horrid against Derevyanchenko, barely beating him by a narrow 12-round unanimous decision on June 10, 2023.
Munguia has lost two out of his last three fights since moving up to 168, and he looks like he doesn’t belong in this weight class. It’s not that he’s washed up. It’s more of a case of Munguia lacking the talent to be one of the major players at 168. He was never that good of a fighter from the get-go.
Hardcore boxing fans are well aware that Jaime was always a limited fighter from way back in 2019 when he was given a controversial win over Dennis Hogan and booed out of the arena by the fans. He’s been carefully maneuvered around the killers at 154, 160, and 168 to hit the mother load with the big payday against Canelo last year on May 4th.
He has more chance to capture a belt at middleweight, but only because the division is barren of talent right now. Almost anyone with a shred of ability has a shot at winning a belt at 160, which is perfect for Munguia.
Futile Hope
Reynoso has been Canelo Alvarez’s longtime trainer, but he’s not a miracle worker. Although Eddy has succeeded with Alvarez, he won’t be able to do much with Munguia unless he’s protected from the sharks at 168. If he’s 100% protected, he might be able to pick up a belt if Canelo retires, but only if he’s matched carefully.
Munguia is expected to face Surace in a rematch on April 12th in Tijuana. That’s a fight that he could lose again, and it won’t matter one bit if Reynoso is the one in his corner that night. Surace has a Cobra-like right hand that he throws that Munguia is too slow to block
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