Jaime Munguia and Daniel Jacobs are in negotiations for a headliner fight this summer on DAZN. According to Dan Rafael, if the fight gets made, it’ll take place at a catchweight in the super middleweight division.
The former IBF/WBA middleweight champion Jacobs (37-4, 30 KOs) is pretty well past it at this point in his career, and pretty much the only thing he’d do for Munguia gives him a well-known name to add to his resume.
Jacobs looked tired & old in his last fight against British fighter John Ryder last February, losing a 12 round split decision.
Jacobs fought reasonably well for the first five rounds but then spent the entire second half of the contest, clinching and stalling out the fight in a defensive posture. Hopefully, Jacobs doesn’t fight like that against Munguia because that’ll be hard to watch.
Although Munguia has had opportunities to fight for world titles at 160, it’s believed that he’s waiting to get a title shot against IBF middleweight champion Gennadiy Golovkin in 2023.
Until then, the Golden Boy promoted Munguia is expected to keep playing it safe fighting weaker opposition. It’s too bad Golovkin doesn’t give Munguia a title shot now so that we can get this waiting game over with.
Perhaps after Munguia fights Golovkin, he’ll begin fighting good opposition.
Many boxing fans think Golden Boy Promotions are purposefully cherry-picking weak opposition for Munguia to keep him unbeaten until he hits it big with a fight against Golovkin or Canelo Alvarez.
Munguia, 25, is coming off a third-round knockout win over little-known D’Mitrius Ballard on February 19th on DAZN.
Some boxing fans questioned why DAZN agreed to let Munguia fight the obscure fighter Ballard in the main event, as it was a mismatch on paper going into the contender.
Moreover, Ballard wasn’t ranked in the top 15 by any sanctioning bodies. Out of all the contenders and champions that Munguia could have fought in the 160-lb division, he was matched against second-tier fighter Ballard.
Rather than a challenge for a world title against WBO middleweight champion Andrade, Munguia chose to fight Ballard, who few boxing fans have ever heard of. Recently, Munguia passed up on a fight against Zhanibek Alimkhanuly for a WBC title eliminator.
It would have been good to see Munguia take on Zhanibek in a WBC title eliminator at 160. At least by fighting Zhanibek, Munguia could prove to his critics that he’s not being matched against strictly weak opposition.
Munguia held the WBO 154 lb title from 2018 to 2019. He won the title by beating Sadam Ali in 2018 and successfully defended the belt five times before moving to the middleweight in 2020.
At 154, Munguia didn’t fight anyone of note despite holding the WBO title for a couple of years. His best win came against former WBO champion Liam Smith. That was a decent victory for Munguia, but nothing special.
Boxing fans wanted to see Munguia fight the Charlo brothers, Julian ‘J-Rock’ Williams and Erickson Lubin, but none of those fights happened.
Since moving up to 160, Munguia has largely faced nondescript opposition. His best win since moving up to 160 came against 36-year-old gatekeeper Gabe Rosado last November.
Jacobs’s recent fights:
- John Ryder – SD 12 loss
- Gabe Rosado SD 12 win – *questionable
- Julio Cesar Chavez Jr – RTD 5 win
- Canelo Alvarez – UD 12 loss
“Representatives for Jamie Munguia and Daniel Jacobs have begun discussing a fight between them that would headline a DAZN card this summer,” said Dan Rafael on his Fight Freaks site.
“The sources said that Munguia co-promoter Golden Boy and Jacobs’ team of promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing and manager Keith Connolly are in talks for a fight that likely would take place slightly north of the 160-pound middleweight limit. Jacobs’ last three battles have been at super middleweight.”
