Yes, the title of this preview/prediction article is a little bit strange, leaving myself open for a plethora of jokes, and that’s okay. This Saturday night, Jaime Munguia takes another step in his still blossoming career facing the hardened-veteran in Gabriel Rosado on the DAZN streaming service.
Some tend to think this will be a walk-through for the much younger and fresher Munguia, while others see this as a legit opponent. So the question had to be asked, can Gab pop Jaime’s cherry (pause), or will Munguia eventually walk thru the war-torn Rosado?
This is an interesting matchup for Jaime Munguia, a fighter in need of a graduation fight, considering he’s already had 37 bouts and only 25 years of age. Please don’t get this boxing podcaster wrong. Rosado probably does fall into the category of either yet another past his prime fighter or a limited opponent that won’t truly test the ceiling of the young Mexican. Names such as Liam Smith, Dennis Hogan, Gary O’Sullivan, Tureano Johnson, all were considering building or learning fights on the way up to becoming a champion. To be fair, Munguia did win a WBO title at 154 that Sadam Ali had won off a super-faded Miguel Cotto. Also, to add balance, many folks, myself included, thought Dennis Hogan had done enough to beat Munguia at 154.
Jaime Munguia has been knocking at the door of a big fight at middleweight and has fought at the 160-pound limit three times now. Jaime is ranked #1 in WBO, where Demetrius Andrade is a titleholder and #1 in the WBC, with Jermall Charlo residing as a titlist. Filling out the rest, he’s #4 in the WBA and all the way down at #12 in the IBF. At some point, Jaime needs to show his worth and get a title shot, right? I mean, it’s not like the champions at middleweight have decided to fight each other, so why not.
On the Gabriel Rosado side of things, he’s managed to string together a nice run of late win, lose, or draw. Just ignore Rosado’s win/loss record, given the fact that Gab got a late start in boxing and had to learn on the job. In the last three years, Gab had a draw with Luis Arias, loss to Maciej Sulecki in a fight he had him down twice late, a split-decision loss to Daniel Jacobs that was horrible to watch but could’ve easily gone Gab’s way. And then back in June, Rosado scored a highlight-reel knockout of hot prospect Bektemir Melikuziev. All and all going back several years, Rosado has an impressive resume that can’t be argued. He has looked good at 168 in his last three outings, so it does make one wonder if dropping back to 160 will limit him a touch.
Catching back up with Munguia after his mediocre performance that could’ve been a loss against Dennis Hogan Jaime brought in the legendary Erik Morales. To both men’s credit, Jaime has shown minor improvement tightening his guard a bit on his way to beating decent middleweight foes. The thing is, Jaime will probably never be all that good defensively, and the time is ticking to put him in with a legit fighter still in his prime or at least a bigger name such as Gennadiy Golovkin.
As far as how this fight will play out in the ring, look for Rosado to have a fair amount of success in the early to mid rounds. As Gab has been quoted saying, “he won’t have to look for him,” making for a very good to great style matchup from an entertainment standpoint. Over the years, Rosado has improved as a fighter able to do battle on the inside and box behind a jab nicely on the outside. This boxing junkie expects we will see a blend of that coming from Gab. Munguia will try to start fast, and neither guy should take much time to warm up before the fists start to fly. As per any fight involving Rosado, we have to mention the strong possibility of cuts opening up even after surgery to help that issue.
A two-way fight eventually leans in favor of Munguia as he lumbers his way closer and closer, going for the kill. In the backend, say rounds 8 or 9, and on that’s when Jaime will dish out punishment in a one-sided manner. Gab could and probably will stun or buzz Munguia and win 3 or 4 rounds as well if it goes the full-12. The more active puncher that has more left in his tank will seize the day and beat a respectable contender in Gabriel Rosado. By the way, if you believe in Gab a whole lot, it would be worth it to put out a flyer on him as a live dog ranging from a +400 all the way up to +500. Those numbers continue to shrink lately, so jump on it if you feel Gab will win.
My Prediction is Jaime Munguia by Unanimous Decision or late TKO.
Side Note: David Benavidez returns to action on Showtime, hoping to get one step closer to a date with Canelo Alvarez.
Written by Chris Carlson Host/Producer of The Rope A Dope Radio Podcast Available at www.blogtalkradio.com/ropeadoperadio & Follow on Twitter @RopeADopeRadio
That’s all boxing writes do anymore is match names if this person fought this person yet all the names are protected and they fight everyone but other names occasionally even getting upsetted. Boxing needs a make over!!