Via Craig Daly: Jaime Munguia will fight this Saturday, June 11, against 8th WBO middleweight contender Jimmy ‘Kilrain’ Kelly in a 12-round bout at 168-lb. live on DAZN at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
Unfortunately for DAZN, Golden Boy Promotions and former WBO middleweight champion Munguia (39-0.31 KOs), interest in this bout from the boxing public has been minimal, as fans see it as a big hit. other nonconformities related to Jaime.
In retrospect, DAZN should have turned down the Munguia vs. Kelly for this was another poor match involving the former WBO 154lb champion, who has not progressed since his promotion to 160 in 2019 three years ago.
Many boxing fans believe Golden Boy is protecting 25-year-old Munguia from 160 lb killers, trying to keep him undefeated long enough to land a big money fight against Canelo Alvarez or Gennadiy Golovkin.
Golden Boy can forget that Canelo used to entertain in the fight against Munguia because he has too much baggage since the Mexican star fought under their banner, and he will not support the company by giving the fight. Soldiers were supposed to protect their large salary which he had’ t earned.
Munguia’s rival, little-known 29-year-old Jimmy Kelly (26-2, 10 KOs), is a ten-year professional runner from England who has lifted it twice in his career and suffered defeated in defeats Liam Smith and Dennis Hogan. Kelly lost to Hogan by an incorrect 12-round unanimous decision.
Munguia is rated #1 WBO, #2 WBA, #2 WBC and #8 IBF. With Munguia’s high ranking of 160, he had the opportunity to challenge for a world title in middleweight against Jermall Charlo and Demetrius Andradewhich he chose not to take.
As I mentioned earlier, it is believed that Munguia is being cornered because of money fights with Canelo or Golovkin. Fighting for a world title is secondary to Munguia.
The real goal seems to be a money war against either of those stars. IBF/WBA middleweight champion Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs) is Munguia’s best and should probably only bet on a money match at this point, as Canelo will never face he.
However, it remains unclear whether Golovkin will continue his career after his three-part battle against Canelo on September 17. Golovkin is going to make a lot of money for his third game against Canelo, and he may not want to continue if he loses.
For the 40-year-old Golovkin to go from playing Canelo to facing Munguia for much less money, he may feel it’s not worth it.
Jimmy Kelly has a three-fight winning streak against these fighters: Kamat Islam, Harry Matthews (16-49-3), and Miguel Aguilar (11-57-1) in the past three years.
As you can see by Matthews and Aguilar’s appallingly poor profile, Kelly’s recent promoters haven’t really thrown him into the throes.
Munguia vs. Kelly underlines:
- Oscar Duarte and Mark Bernaldez
- Evan Anthony Sanchez vs Carlos Ortiz Cervantes
- Jorge Estrada Ramirez vs Hassan Coleman
