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After years of criticism from boxing fans for what was considered an easy schedule for a fighter of his skill level, Jaime Munguia found himself in the toughest fight of his career last June, beating Sergiy Derevyanchenko in a war. On Saturday, he will look to build on that fight when he faces another tough test with John Ryder in a super middleweight bout.
Munguía’s record is impressive on paper, 42-0 with 33 knockouts. He won a world title in 2018, crushing Saddam Ali in just four rounds to take the WBO light middleweight championship. Munguia followed up with an impressive, hard-fought victory over Liam Smith. Four more title defenses followed, none against fighters expected to present much of a challenge to Munguía.
After moving up to middleweight and then super middleweight, Munguía overcame fights against overmatched opponents. In only three of his fights after winning the WBO title against Ali, Munguia was a -1000 underdog.
One of those fights was against Derevyanchenko in a fight that was one of the best of 2023. Derevyanchenko was able to come in, push Munguia, and land hard shots throughout the fight. Munguia was able to score a big knockdown in Round 12, allowing him to overcome the scorecards, with the judges returning final scores of 115-112, 114-113 and 114-113.
Munguia now heads into the fight with Ryder as a -375 favorite, likely a reaction to his struggles against Derevyanchenko, who was the much smaller man in the fight but still took advantage of Munguia’s defensive deficiencies. Munguía’s promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, hopes this will be a great year for one of his star fighters.
“It’s about getting the big names this year,” De La Hoya said at this conference. press conference of the week. “And obviously, fighting on Saturday night against a very, very tough John Ryder, winning this fight will obviously catapult him to the level where he belongs, that championship level. You know, and we’re talking about the Canelos, we’re talking about about the Benavidez of this world.
“In fact, I talked to Benavidez yesterday. And he’s in Guadalajara, looking for Canelo. So, we feel strongly that the 168-pound division is loaded, it’s exciting and it’s just about making the matches happen. And that’s why What do you see? Three promoters on the podium. You have my good friend. [Fernando] Beltrán and Eddie Hearn, who has also been doing a great job. “And we’re here to work together to give boxing fans the best fights.”
Ryder’s record is much less impressive on paper, with 32 wins in 38 fights, but he has faced tougher opposition than Munguia. That includes his most recent fight, in which Ryder lost to undisputed super middleweight champion Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez by unanimous decision in May 2023.
Ryder also fought Callum Smith for the WBA title in November 2019, and also lost that championship fight via unanimous decision. That decision generated quite a bit of controversy as many scored the fight for Ryder, but Smith took fairly wide scorecards of 116-112, 116-112 and 117-111.
The card sees a pair of title fights set in the lower weight classes. Oscar Collazo looks to defend his WBO minimumweight title against Reyneris Gutiérrez in the co-main event. Collazo is 8-0 as a professional with six knockouts on his resume. Elsewhere, Gabriela Fundora, the younger sister of former junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora, will defend her IBF flyweight title against Christina Cruz.
Let’s take a look at the latest odds for the card before moving on to a prediction and expert pick on the main event.
Munguía vs Smith fight card, odds
| Jaime Munguia -350 | John Ryder +275 | super middleweight |
| Óscar Collazo (c) -3000 | Reyneris Gutiérrez +1100 | WBO Minimum Weight Title |
| Gabriela Fundora (c) -2000 | Cristina Cruz +900 | IBF flyweight title |
See information
Date: January 27 | Location: Footprint Center – Phoenix
Time: 10 pm eastern time
How to watch/stream: DAZN
Prediction
This is a very solid fight, especially considering what they both do well. Ryder was successful against Smith, and deserved to walk away as world champion, by executing a very similar game plan to what Derevyanchenko did against Munguia. Ryder is willing to push his opponents and trade big blows and has proven that his chin can take big blows. Add in that Munguia’s technique isn’t top-notch and that his defense has a lot of leaks and it’s not hard to see a clear path to victory for Ryder.
Munguia is complicated once he gets rolling and it’s not likely that he has suddenly changed his style to be anything other than someone who wants to mix it up. The question is whether or not he can keep Ryder off his chest while he keeps his own back off the ropes. Munguia should be the favorite coming in, but this looks like the kind of fight where an upset is on the cards. Choose: John Ryder via SD
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