MUNGUIA TAKES ON O'SULLIVAN IN MIDDLEWEIGHT DEBUT
On Saturday night, former WBO junior middleweight titleholder Jaime Munguia will fight Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan in his debut at 160 pounds. This fight will headline a DAZN live stream from the Alamodome in San Antonio, TX.
Munguia (34-0, 27 KO) recently vacated his WBO title to campaign at middleweight, as he has struggled with making the 154-pound weight limit in past fights. Since he was a WBO titleholder at junior middleweight, he now has a no. 1 ranking in the WBO at middleweight.
In his last outing, Munguia defended his junior middleweight title against Patrick Allotey in September of 2019, winning via knockout in the fourth round.
A win against O’Sullivan could put Munguia in a position to challenge Demetrius Andrade for his WBO title in what would be the biggest challenge of his career. Critics of Munguia will likely point to his less than stellar opposition since winning the junior middleweight title in 2018 and a big fight with Andrade could show the boxing world what he’s really made of.
O’Sullivan (30-3, 21 KO) has been a top contender at middleweight for the past few years and has been in the ring with names like Chris Eubank Jr. and David Lemieux. Unfortunately for O’Sullivan, he lost both of those fights by stoppage.
But since his devastating knockout loss to Lemieux in September of 2018, O’Sullivan has racked up two wins in a row. His most recent was a sixth round stoppage win over Khiary Gray in March of 2019.
Also on the card is WBO/WBC women’s super middleweight champion Franchon Crews (6-1, 2 KO) defending her belts against Alejandra Jimenez (12-0-1, 9 KO).
After losing to two-division champion Claressa Shields in her pro debut (it was also Shields’ pro debut) in November of 2016, Crews has gone unbeaten in five fights. Her most recent was a decision win over Maricela Cornejo, defending her WBC title and picking up the WBO belt in the process.
Jimenez has been out of the ring for nearly a year, as her last fight was a decision win over Irais Hernandez in February of 2019.
The first of the top three fights will feature lightweight prospect Hector Tanajara (18-0, 5 KO) against former world title challenger Juan Carlos Burgos (33-3-2, 21 KO).
Tanajara is coming off of a unanimous decision win over Ezequiel Aviles in August of 2019. His fight against Burgos on Saturday night will undoubtedly be his biggest test to date, as Burgos has plenty of experience against elite opposition.
Burgos has shared the ring with the likes of Roman Martinez, Mikey Garcia and, most recently, current WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney. He lost the fight with Haney via a wide unanimous decision. An upset win for Burgos on Saturday could set him up for yet another title opportunity, although he is likely a heavy underdog.