Undefeated former WBO junior middleweight champion turn 160-pound contender Jaime Munguia 40-0 (32) will face 25-year-old Argentine southpaw Gonzalo ‘El Mago’ Coria 21-5 (5) in Guadalajara, Mexico on Saturday night.
The 26-year-old Mexican from Tijuana will be having his seventh fight since moving up from the 154-pound weight class where he made five defences of his WBO title.
There was talk of Munguia facing British southpaw John ‘The Gorilla’ Ryder 31-5 (17) but those negotiations fell through. Ryder will now face undefeated countryman Zach Parker 22-0 (16) for the vacant interim WBO super middleweight title in London on November 26 instead.
Coria has fought mostly journeymen and has come up short whenever he has stepped up in class. He is seemingly durable though with only reigning WBO middleweight champion Zhanibek ‘Qazaq Stlye’ Alimkhanuly 13-0 (8) scoring a stoppage over him two years ago.
“[Coria] is a lot of risk and little to gain. Obviously I’m not belittling this fighter and I’m never going to belittle anyone, I always prepare in the best way,” Munguia said to DAZN.
“The truth is that this [second fight in Mexico] was not foreseen. We had planned to fight John Ryder, who had just beaten [Daniel] Jacobs, in what I think was a great fight, but for one reason or another it didn’t happen.
“We’re going to try to make the best of this fight, keep learning, keep working for when the expected fight comes.”
Despite facing a limited opponent this weekend, Munguia says he is focused on a fight against WBA and IBF middleweight champion Gennadiy Golovkin 42-2-1 (37) in the new year.
The 40-year-old Golovkin is two months removed from a unanimous decision loss against old rival Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez 58-2-2 (39) in a trilogy bout for the Mexican superstar’s WBC, WBA, WBO and IBF super middleweight titles.
The Kazakh bomber has since said he intends to return to middleweight, where there are still plenty of big fights to be made.
One of them could come against Munguia in a matchup that would bring guaranteed action.
“Without a doubt the last fight he had with Canelo, GGG made it clear that he is still a great fighter, that he is still strong, that he is still valid,” Munguia said.
“He gave a great fight with Canelo and I think he and I could have a great fight. Besides, he is the champion, one of the champions at 160 pounds and if it’s with him I would like to fight for the world championship.”
