John Ryder (32-6, 18 KOs) and Jaime Munguia (42-0, 33 KOs) both have a lot on the line for their twelve-round super middleweight main event contest this Saturday night on DAZN at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona.
The 35-year-old Ryder, who is coming off a disappointing loss to Canelo Alvarez, has more at stake because of his age and six career defeats.
Ryder Needs Win
The British fighter, Ryder, recognizes that he must win this fight against the 27-year-old Munguia to keep his career alive because he cannot afford to suffer a second defeat in a row if he wants to get another chance to fight for a world title against Canelo and enjoy the massive money that comes from another match.
“It’s a fight I need more than ever to keep my world title aspirations alive,” Ryder said at today’s press conference.
The Freddie Roach-trained Munguia is ranked highly at #1 WBO and #2 WBC despite having fought just twice at 168 against Jimmy Kelly and 38-year-old Sergiy Derevyanchenko.
Munguia looked dreadfully poor against Derevyanchenko last June and was lucky not to have lost that fight because it was a close affair, with the outcome decided in the final round.
If Munguia fights like that this Saturday night, Ryder will have an excellent chance of winning, provided the scoring is done logically.
Dance For the Crown
“We wanted a big challenge, and John Ryder is a big challenge,” said Munguia.
This writer wouldn’t say that Ryder is a “big challenge,” but it’s a safe one for Munguia. This is a fight that is more in line with the type of opposition that Munguia has fought throughout his 11-year professional career.
Rather than fighting the dangerous opposition, he’s always been matched against guys operating at a slightly lower level.
When Munguia had the chance to fight dangerous fighters like Jermall Charlo and Demetrius Andrade Janibek Alimkhanuly several years ago, he opted not to fight them. Instead, Munguia fought these fighters:
– Gonzalo Gaston Coria
– Jimmy Kelly
– D’Mitrius Ballard
– Gabe Rosado
– Kamil Szeremeta
– Tureano Johnson
– Gary O’Sullivan
Munguia’s new trainer, Freddie Roach, is supposedly making changes to his game, but it’s likely we’ll see the same thing from him that we have in the past. He likes to throw a lot of punches, and he’s good when going to the body.
