Munguia stops O’Sullivan in middleweight debut

The Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, held on Saturday night Jaime Munguia in his middleweight debut, and he closed the show, stopping Spike O’Sullivan in the eleventh round for the technical knockout victory.

The undefeated twenty-three-year-old Mexican star (35-0, 28 KOs) made the jump to 160 pounds after well-known struggles at junior middleweight making weight. That transition looked pretty well as Munguia, who predicted an early night against O’Sullivan, had to deal with more return fire than most were thinking early on.

A relentless attack from @jaimemunguia15 ends this fight in the 11th round ?#MunguiaOSullivan pic.twitter.com/M7HLP69eVG

— DAZN USA (@DAZN_USA) January 12, 2020

It made for a very entertaining scrap that was seen live in the States on DAZN. O’Sullivan came into this contest “ready for war” and wore “war’ on his trunks and bought in the early going. What transpired as the fight went on was the fact the Munguia was able to ride what O’Sullivan gave him and through back with shots of his own.  The biggest thing of note was that the jab of Munguia in the later rounds kept O’Sullivan off and picked his spots wisely.

Fatigue and punishment took its toll on O’Sullivan, and finally, in the eleventh round, a jab caught a looking visibly spent on the broadcast from Munguia. That shot had sent him back to the ropes, and that is when Munguia poured it on, forcing O’Sullivan’s corner led by Packie Collins to throw in the towel, ending the match at 2:17 of the eleventh round.

Munguia, as a concern during most of the contest, was warned repeatedly for low blows. So much so, Munguia was deducted a point for it in the seventh round and warned again for it later in the eighth.

 “I really felt the difference at 160 pounds,” admitted Munguia, who weighed a career-heaviest—though well-proportioned—159 1/4 pounds. “I felt so much stronger than I have at 154 pounds.”

“I was confused whether to attack or not, but thanks to my corner, I think I did better at 160,” said Munguia. “I feel like I wore down less ’cause of the weight cut. I felt I threw more punches, more combinations, and it made the difference.”

“I want all the best middleweights,” Munguia (35-0, 28KOs) talking with DAZN’s Claudia Trejos after victory. “I want [World middleweight champion Saul] Canelo Alvarez, [two-tour middleweight titlist] Gennadiy Golovkin, [unbeaten middleweight titlist Jermall] Charlo. I want them all.”

On the Big Fight Weekend Podcast, we hinted that the jump to 160 for Munguia could set up a possibility for all of these fighters.  Everyone within two weight classes of Canelo would like a chance at him.

Mungia was hinted as one of the names to challenge him on last year before that eventually went to Sergey Kovalev. Keep an eye on if that matchup would transpire later on in the year or as the current mandatory challenger for the WBO belt holder at 160, Demetrius Andrade.