Who is Jaime Munguía?
London's John Ryder heads back across the Atlantic to face yet another big-punching Mexican in Jaime Munguía, just eight months on from his brutal battle to pound-for-pound superstar and four-weight world champion, Canelo.
Last May, 'The Gorilla' from Islington fought bravely against undisputed super-middleweight champion Saul Alvarez over 12 tough rounds that saw him knocked down in the fifth, but still rallied back to win two rounds on two of the judges' scorecards.
Now, the 35-year-old southpaw heads back over to the southwestern part of America to take on Mexican Munguía, but who is his 39th opponent? Find out all about him below:
Jaime Aarón Munguía Escobedo was born in Tijuana, Mexico, on October 6, 1996, and is currently 27-years-old.
He is the son of a heavyweight boxer, Jaime “Rambo” Munguia, who boxed professionally between 1989-1998.
Jaime Jr. joined his father’s boxing gym at a young age and showed signs he was a natural fighter who learned very quickly.
Munguia had a strong amateur background, traveling around Mexico and earning a bronze and a gold medal in the national championships. However, his amateur record remains a mystery as all his bouts were fought in Mexico and not even BoxRec have any of them listed.
Munguia was too young to compete in the London 2012 Olympics, so rather than waiting another four years, he chose to turn professional with Fernando Beltran’s Zanfer Promotions instead, and debuted on July 13, 2013 at only 16-years-old in Tijuana, Mexico. He knocked out Manuel Mora in just two rounds.
Munguia has been trained by his father and Noe Alvarez between 2013-2018; then by former Oscar De La Hoya trainer, Robert Alcazar until 2019; then he teamed up with Mexican legend, Erik Morales, but they parted ways amicably after a few years together. He is now trained by Manny Pacquiao's former coach, Freddie Roach.
2016 was a key year in Munguia’s career. He had seven fights that year, and for the first time he fought outside of his home state, including once in Sonora and also in Nuevo Leon, and passed three tests against experienced rivals such as Ramiro Alcaraz, Alfredo Chávez and Álvaro Robles.
In 2017, Munguia again fought on seven occasions against renowned rivals such as Juan Macías Montiel, Johnny Navarrete and Uriel González, making himself known throughout his native Mexico. Then, Munguia made his debut in the United States, when he defeated Paul Valenzuela in two rounds in a bout held in Las Vegas.
With only two weeks notice, on May 12, 2018, he challenged for the WBO super-welterweight world championship and dropped the champion Sadam Ali four times to stop him in the fourth round to win the world title in his New York debut.
His first defense was just two months later on July 21, also in Las Vegas, winning by unanimous decision against former holder, Liam Smith. Munguia then finished the year by defeating Brandon Cook via third-round technical knockout in the co-main event of Canelo vs. GGG 2.
In January 2019, Munguia defeated Naoyoa's brother, Takeshi Inoue, after a grueling 12-round war resulting in a unanimous decision. He also defended to Dennis hogan and Patrick Allotey that year, resulting in five successful defences.
In 2019, Golden Boy and Zanfer Promotions signed a strategic co-promotional agreement to promote Jaime.
He vacated the world title in order to move up weight classes, but has since won the WBO Inter-Continental middleweight title, which he defended four times. And in his most recent fight, he claimed the vacant WBC Silver super-middleweight title with a unanimous decision over Sergiy Derevyanchenko in a brutal back-and-forth battle worthy of fight of the year honours.