Jaime Munguia’s trainer, boxing great Erik Morales, says Gennadiy Golovkin will NOT be his next opponent for the summer. Morales says that former unified middleweight champion Golovkin (42-2-1, 37 KOs) said he’d be out of action for an undetermined about of time.
Golovkin lost his last fight against Canelo Alvarez in September and fought less aggressively than in his previous contests against the Mexican star.
GGG mostly held and moved around the ring for the first eight rounds before reverting to his old style of coming forward in the championship rounds to make it close on the scorecards.
The undefeated 160-lb contender Munguia (41-0, 33 KOs) had hoped to face Golovkin in June, but it’s not possible now. It’s a fight that Munguia has wanted for many years, as the two were close to battling in 2018, but the match fell through.
It’s questionable whether DAZN would offer Golovkin a massive guarantee for a fight against Munguia because this isn’t a marquee-level match-up that would attract much fan interest. Boxing fans would likely pay to watch Golovkin face these types of fighters:
- David Benavidez
- Jermall Charlo
- Jermell Charlo
- Dmitry Bivol
- Caleb Plant
- Artur Beterbiev
Recently, Munguia had hoped to challenge WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol on June 10th, but his promoter Fernando Beltran, told Izquierdazo, “We couldn’t make a deal. Unfortunately, Bivol is not very popular.”
Bivol has a large following in the U.S., but fans wouldn’t be overly excited at seeing him matched against Munguia because the outcome would be obvious. Munguia would undoubtedly lose if he fought Bivol’s recent opponents, Gilberto Ramirez, Canelo Alvarez, and Craig Richards.
Most boxing fans would agree that the 26-year-old Munguia would be overmatched against a fighter as skilled as Bivol, and it wouldn’t be a fair fight. Munguia has never competed at 175, and his opposition thus far during his ten-year career has been pedestrian-level
“I don’t think [we’re looking in that direction,” said Munguia’s trainer Erik Morales to Izquierdazo about a fight between Jaime and Gennadiy Golovkin.
“What I understand, what I was told by the company, is that Golovkin told them that he is leaving boxing indefinitely and will let everybody know if he decides to return. So, we can’t think of Golovkin right now.
“[Zanfer Promotions promoter Fernando] Beltran and Golden Boy, Oscar de la Hoya in this case, will define Jaime’s next opponent,” Morales said. “We all would like it to be Golovkin, all the team, and especially Jaime. But Golovkin is not there anymore.”
