THE JAIME MUNGUIA SHOW || FIGHTHYPE.COM

Jimmy Kelly had about as a lot probability of upsetting Jaime Munguia Saturday evening on the Honda Heart in Anaheim as I’ve in hooking up with Shakira post-breakup with Gerard Pique.

The 25-year-old Mexican fought like somebody who knew that he principally simply needed to present as much as win, giving freely three of the primary 4 rounds on my mega, extremely unofficial scorecard because of what might have been interpreted as normal indifference. Realistically, it was simply going to be a matter of time earlier than the massive child would land one thing arduous and knock the bangers and mash out of the UK pug. It was additionally fairly clear that Kelly lacked the punching energy and primary stage chops (simply two and three fights in the past, he was beating guys with information of 16-49-3 and 11-57-1) to maintain Munguia from ultimately strolling throughout him. That “ultimately” got here within the fifth spherical when the Tijuana native dropped Kelly 3 times en path to a merciful stoppage. 

I’ve at all times appreciated Munguia– he’s an affable, entertaining, earnest fighter with good vitality about him– however the Jaime Munguia Present is getting previous now. This new technique of dumping on Jermall Charlo (seemingly dreamed up and dredged up by co-promoter Oscar De La Hoya), publicly obsessing on getting Charlo to cease “ducking” him and cease “hiding behind” advisor Al Haymon, is downright annoying. 

You simply don’t get to aggressively declare that you just’re being ducked when your staff has turned down so many alternatives (Demetrius Andrade, Janibek Alimkhanuly, Carlos Adame, and even Jermall Charlo, relying on what you imagine from the tales within the press). That simply reeks of being fatally disingenuous. Even when THE battle you need IS out of attain, that doesn’t offer you carte blanche to battle tailor made mushy touches indefinitely. 

The truth is that Workforce Munguia reeled again the extent of Munguia’s opposition tremendously after he adopted up his WBO junior middleweight title-winning demolition of Sadam Ali in 2018 with a really uneven and doubtlessly disastrous displaying in opposition to Liam Smith two months later. He was clearly not prepared for the full-on better of the very best, and at 21, there was no purpose to push him too far, too quick. 

However Munguia is 25 now and getting the star remedy. He’s additionally ranked no. 1 as a middleweight by the WBO, no. 2 by the WBC and WBA, and no. 8 by the IBF. Plus, his individuals are definitely pushing the narrative that he’s prepared for the world. It’s time to step up or step again. 

On the very least, he must battle anyone who isn’t simply barely extra imposing and certified than the beer vendor on the Honda Heart. 

– Munguia co-promoter Oscar De La Hoya offered some comedian reduction throughout Munguia-Kelly battle week together with his back-and-forth (with himself) on whether or not he knew or didn’t know who the hell Jaime Munguia was combating on Saturday:

On Wednesday, in an interview with the MMA Hour, he mentioned this about Jimmy Kelly: “I don’t even know who the hell he’s…This child (Jimmy) Kelly, who really– I’m the largest battle fan ever and I don’t know who he’s.”

At Thursday’s Munguia-Kelly press convention, nonetheless, he mentioned this with a straight face: “I have been finding out Kelly for awhile now and he is the true deal.”

You may’t make this shit up.

So, yeah, promoters lie and Oscar is crazy. Inform us one thing we don’t know, proper? The factor is, although, that lies and reality-bending, quick-turn complete contradictions make EVERYTHING coming from that particular person and his individuals suspect. Which, in flip, impacts the fighter, all of his dealings, and the best way that fighter’s profession progresses. In brief, Oscar performing the idiot makes Jaime Munguia look silly. 

– It doesn’t essentially take a boxing genius to see the similarities within the advertising and marketing methods of Gervonta Davis and Jaime Munguia. Each are enjoying nearly completely to their base whereas working to construct on that base with protected, favorable matchmaking geared toward accentuating their strengths and minimizing threat. Each have additionally been very profitable at constructing their stars behind this technique. Munguia has been in in opposition to significantly softer opposition than Davis, however there’s little distinction within the paths to stardom each are taking. The one actual distinction is in how media and a few followers deal with each fighters for primarily doing the identical factor and being pushed the identical means. Munguia takes nowhere close to the identical degree of flak as Davis. Why that is, nicely, that’s a subject for one more day. 

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