Top Rank has signed a multi-fight deal with super middleweight contender Jaime Munguia for him to fight on ESPN.
This is a co-promotional deal with Munguia (43-1, 34 KOs) fighting for Top Rank and Zanfer Promotions. Munguia, 27, will be fighting his first match for Top Rank on September 20th against Erik Bazinyan in Phoenix.
The Canelo Rematch Angle
If Munguia is victorious against the unbeaten Bazinyan, it’s believed that he’ll face #1 WBC Christian Mbilli in a fight that could put the winner in position to challenge champion Canelo Alvarez for that belt.
That’s likely the goal for Top Rank in signing Munguia to quickly angle him for a lucrative rematch against Canelo, making it worthwhile to sign him.
It’s unclear whether Canelo will entertain a rematch with Munguia so quickly after beating him last May by a twelve-round unanimous decision.
The boxing public won’t be interested in seeing a rematch between them peddled on PPV in 2025 if Munguia rapidly becomes Canelo’s WBC mandatory by beating Banzinyan and Mbilli.
Weak Super Middleweight Division
Those guys aren’t considered the murderer’s row of contenders at 168, but the division is so weak now that these two are sadly what amounts to be the top contenders.
Canelo didn’t want to fight David Benavidez, and David Morrell Jr. gave up on the idea of fighting him when he, too, was ignored. Both talents have moved up to 175, leaving lesser fighters, Mbilli, Banzinyan, and Munguia, to battle to get a big payday against Canelo. That’s the prize they’re all looking for, and the belts he holds likely have nothing to do with it.
Apart from that big payday fight, Munguia isn’t worth much because he’s flawed. It’s widely believed that his previous promoters at Golden Boy protected him all these years since signing him in 2018.
They matched Munguia carefully to get him the massive Canelo payday, and they barely succeeded. He came close to losing before then against 38-year-old Sergiy Derevyanchenko last year, and he looked terrible in that fight. If not for the knockdown in the twelfth, Munguia would have lost.
Top Rank Match Munguia Carefully
If Top Rank wants to keep Munguia for the long haul by extending his contract when it expires, they must match him as carefully as they did with Edgar Berlanga when he was with them for his first 20 fights.
Berlanga and Munguia are basically interchangeable. They’re the same fighters, and that’s why Top Rank has got to be very careful with how they match Munguia to avoid watching him get beaten repeatedly.
Munguia is too flawed to be trusted against good fighters like Caleb Plant and Diego Pacheco. He’s lucky that Benavidez and Morrell moved up because those two would do easy work of Munguia, ruining any plans Top Rank might have of maneuvering him into a rematch with Canelo.
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