Talk about a homecoming gone wrong. Devastatingly so. On December 14th in Tijuana, Mexico, home hero and proven tough warrior Jaime Munguia ran into a little-known French dude named Bruno Surace. Or should I write, Munguia was run over by Surace.
Entering the ring with Buster Douglas-type mega odds set against him, so-called non-puncher Surace (who had logged up a lowly 4 five stoppage wins prior) completely tore things up, and Surace may well have ended the top-level career of former WBO 154 pound champ Munguia.
Munguia, who had thrilled fans with his blood and guts decision win over Sergey Derevyanchenko in the summer of 2023, this fight for some last year’s FOTY, began the fight well enough, with him dropping Surace with a left hand in round two. But then, in truly shocking fashion, the 50-1 dog came back to blast Munguia to the mat with a sizzling right hand in round six. Surace, 25-0-2(5) coming in, with him never having boxed outside of France, put Munguia down on his back.
Munguia, 44-1(35) upon entering the ring, tried with all he had left to get back up, but it was a lost cause. Career-middleweight Surace totally silenced the crowd, while he gave us this year’s biggest upset.
If anyone was lucky enough to have placed a wager on Surace, well, they will have picked up a bundle. Surace picked up the biggest win of his career by far, and there looks set to be a return meeting between he and the shell-shocked Munguia some time next year. What happens then, we will all be tuning in to find out.
For now, Bruno Surace is still no doubt getting the hero treatment in France, and a number of websites, this one included, have handed Bruno The Upset of the Year award, with some also handing him the KO of the Year award.
Not bad at all for a 50-1 betting underdog!
As was written at the time, the KO Surace scored reminded us all again of the sheer drama and excitement this great sport of ours can throw up at any time.
