By Ian S Palmer
Newly-crowned WBO Junior Middleweight Champion and unbeaten Jaime Munguia of Mexico will be defending his title for the first time when he takes on Liam Smith of Liverpool, England in Las Vegas, Nevada this Saturday, July 21st. The 12-round bout can be seen live in North America on HBO while fans in the UK can catch it on BT Sport1. Munguia won the title his last time out by stopping Sadam Ali in the fourth round. Smith last fought in November when he November when he beat Liam Williams by a 12-round majority decision in their rematch.
Munguia is just 21 years old, but already has a world title belt and an undefeated record of 29-0 along with 25 big Kos. He stepped up in class against Ali and looked like a beast while stopping him convincingly. The new champ obviously has some dynamite in his fists with a current knockout ratio of 86 per cent. He turned pro as a young teenager back in 2013 and has 89 rounds under his belt since then. Munguia was originally considered as a replacement for Canelo Alvarez to fight Gennady Golovkin in May, but the powers that be decided the weight and experience advantage for Golovkin was too much.
Munguia then got a title shot against Ali when original opponent Liam Smith pulled out of the bout against Ali due to an injury. Munguia jumped at the chance and in hindsight it was a huge mistake on Ali’s part. Munguia entered the fight as a hungry boxer who wanted to make a name for himself on the world stage and he certainly did that with his impressive performance. Munguia’s close to 6-feet-1-inch tall, but has an unlisted reach. He overpowered Ali because of his size and strength and could be in for a long reign as champion.
The 29-year-old Smith won the vacant WBO Junior Middleweight title against John Thompson via a seventh-round TKO in October of 2015 then defended it against fellow Brit Jimmy Kelly in the seventh round two months later. He then defended against Predrag Radosevic by a second-round stoppage in June of 2016. However, he lost the title three months later when Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez stopped him in the ninth round. Smith is also a former British Commonwealth Champion and became the first world champion to hail from Liverpool in 22 years.
He has an impressive record of 26-1-1 with 14 Kos and has also beaten the likes of Williams, Zoltan Sera and David Romero. His draw was a four-round affair with Terry Carruthers in 2010. Smith is on the short side for a junior middleweight at just over 5-feet-9-inches tall and also has an unlisted reach. However, we do know that he’s about three inches shorter than the champ. Other than Alvarez, Smith has fought mainly domestic opponents since turning pro in 2008 and has 160 rounds under his belt since then. He’s got decent power in his fists and currently possesses a knockout ratio of 50 per cent.
Prediction…
Smith is a pressure fighter and gave a good account of himself against Canelo Alvarez. He should do the same here against Munguia, but the champion’s power and and size will eventually be too much for Smith to handle. I’m expecting Munguia to successfully defend his title and probably by a stoppage.
