Paulie Malignaggi sees John Ryder with a mountain to climb tonight against Jaime Munguia. He will face the younger, stronger, busier, and bigger 27-year-old Munguia in a 12-round super middleweight fight on DAZN at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona. The Munguia vs. Ryder event begins at 8:00 p.m. ET.
Can Munguia Punch His Way to Canelo?
Golden Boy Promotions have chosen Ryder (32-6, 18 KOs) with the idea of Munguia (42-0, 33 KOs) looking spectacular against him and knocking him to put himself in a position to get hand-picked by Canelo Alvarez for his next opponent on May 4th on Cinco de Mayo on Amazon Prime PPV.
If it works, great for Munguia, but it sounds more like a deluded pipe dream on Golden Boy’s part because Canelo isn’t going to make his choice based on Jaime destroying a guy that he just beat the stuffing out of last May.
If Golden Boy wanted to put Munguia in a strong position to get the Canelo fight in May, they should chosen one of these fighters:
- David Benavidez
- David Morrell Jr.
- Caleb Plant
The first two picks would have been ideal for Munguia to fight to impress Canelo, but Golden Boy isn’t crazy enough to throw Jaime in with either of those two killers and watch him get destroyed.
Munguia isn’t that type of talent to where you can put him with Morrell or Benavidez and count on him winning or even lasting more than three or four rounds. Speaking of Benavidez.
According to Oscar De La Hoya, he’s going to be at ringside tonight to scout the Munguia vs. Ryder fight to fight the winner potentially.
Malignaggi’s 8-4 Munguia Pick
“I see an 8 to 4 fight for Munguia. I think if he can get a stoppage, I think there will be momentum going into a Canelo fight, but I still don’t think that makes up for what Benavidez has done,” said boxing expert Paulie Malignaggi to ProBox TV, talking about Jaime Munguia on what he would accomplish by stopping John Ryder on Saturday night.
Boxing expert Malignaggi is being generous by picking Munguia 8-4 because this fight could be a lot more one-sided than that tonight.
That’s not to say that Munguia is a great fighter because he’s mediocre at best, but he’s better than the 35-year-old Ryder, and he’s catching him at the right point of his career with him coming off a beat down against Canelo.
In looking at Ryder’s physique at the weigh-in. He’s got an Elvis paunch going. He looks like he’s been eating well with the millions that he made for his fight against Canelo last May. That’s even more reason why he’s going to lose tonight to Munguia.
Canelo’s Mexican Blindspot?
“It’s unfortunate that Munguia is Mexican and Canelo doesn’t fight Mexicans. If there’s going to be a stoppage in this fight, it’s going to be from a body shot. That would be the only path for a stoppage for Munguia.
“Ryder is pretty durable. Maybe the later rounds where both guys are fatigued. You’re fatigued a little bit in the later rounds, and you get hit with a really good body shot, sometimes that really takes it out of you,” said Malignaggi.
Paulie is having a laugh at Canelo’s comment a while ago where he said that he wouldn’t fight Mexicans. He’s dropped that and is now willing to fight Mexican fighters, but he still hasn’t.
Canelo is being paid too much money from his contract with PBC for him to refuse to fight Benavidez in one of his two remaining fights on his $100 million contract.
It would be interesting if Canelo stiffed PBC, refusing to fight Benavidez in May or September, and instead used his final two fights with them facing Jermall Charlo and Munguia. You can only imagine how angry Al Haymon would be if he did that.
Freddie Roach’s Impact
“That’s always the risk with a good body puncher. He can get you out late, even if you’re durable with a good chin. Roach, for me, is a very good offensive trainer, and Munguia is an offensive fighter.
“Again, I don’t think you’re going to see Munguia coming in looking like Pernell Whitaker., but I think you’re going to see Munguia being his typical ultra-aggressive self. I thought he did well with [former trainer Erik] Morales, but I don’t think you’re going to fix Munguia’s defensive liabilities.
“Maybe different punching angles and a different offensive mentality. I think you can only benefit when you work with a guy like Freddie Roach,” said Malignaggi.
Freddie Roach isn’t going to change Munguia any because he’s an offensive coach, and his problem is with his defense. If anything, Roach will have Munguia fighting more recklessly than he is now, and he’ll be getting hit a lot tonight by Ryder.
Munguia will still win tonight. That’s this writer’s prediction, but only because Ryder is old, can’t punch, and is coming off a bad beatdown.
