BY JAKE DONOVAN
January 28, 2023
Source: Boxing Scene
Photo Source: Boxing Scene
Jaime Munguia won over a lot of critics with his most recent victory.
The high praise wasn’t unanimous, however.
David Benavidez was among the very few not taken aback by Munguia’s ninth-round stoppage of England’s John Ryder in this past Saturday’s DAZN headliner. The majority of the feedback saw the unbeaten Tijuana native deliver a statement-making performance at Footprint Center, fittingly in Benavidez’s childhood hometown of Phoenix, Arizona.
A different perspective was offered by the super middleweight division’s leading contender.
“This a [sic] easy knockout,” Benavidez stated in his Instagram story immediately after
Munguia’s knockout win. “That’s why they ducked me.”
The harsh take was understandable given the post-fight narrative.
Munguia (43-0, 34KOs) is one of four mandatory challengers in waiting to undisputed super middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (60-2-2, 39KOs). Benavidez has waited the longest among the current lot. The former two-time WBC super middleweight titlist has held the sanctioning body’s interim belt since May 2022.
That title was made available after he already rose to the top contender spot in 2021. To the surprise of nobody, the WBC has yet to make a ruling other than to acknowledge Benavidez as the sanctioning body’s mandatory challenger during its annual convention last November.
Meanwhile, Golden Boy Promotions—Munguia’s co-promoter along with Zanfer Boxing—has aggressively pushed for its star to next face Guadalajara’s Alvarez in an all-Mexico superfight.
It was a predictable fight week theme; Ryder (32-7, 18KOs) went the twelve-round distance with the sport’s leading star last May in Zapopan, Mexico. Munguia drew rave reviews for his four-knockdown performance to force the stoppage in front of an announced crowd of 10,836 this past weekend.
Munguia is the current number-one contender with the WBO, who previously ruled that a mandatory would not be ordered until later this year. He also holds the Silver title within the WBC, where Munguia is ranked number two, one spot behind Christian Mbilli. Both are below Benavidez (28-0, 24KOs), who is stuck in the rotation among active mandatory challengers along with David Morrell (WBA ‘Regular’ titlist) and William Scull (IBF number-one).
Neither Alvarez nor Benavidez currently have a fight scheduled.
It has been widely reported—but not yet confirmed—that Alvarez will return to the ring on May 4 in Las Vegas. Houston’s Jermall Charlo (33-0, 22KOs) is rumored as the leading candidate, which would mean a second straight fight at super middleweight for the unbeaten WBC middleweight titlist.
Charlo ended a 29-month ring absence with a ten-round, unanimous decision win over Jose Benavidez Jr.—David’s older brother—last November 25 at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas. David Benavidez headlined the same show in a one-sided, sixth-round stoppage of previously unbeaten Demetrius Andrade in the second defense of his interim WBC title.
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