By: Rich Lopez
After a superb 2019 in boxing, we get back into it this weekend with tons of boxing action to begin the New Year. Boxing is back on DAZN this Saturday at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, with a stacked card presented by Golden Boy Promotions. The main event will feature Jaime Munguia who will be making his return to Texas. The co-feature will showcase WBC and WBO World Female Super Middleweight Champion Franchon Crews-Dezrun.
The main event will be a 12 rounder in the middleweight division between Jaime Munguia and Gary O’ Sullivan.
Jaime Munguia (34-0, 27 KO’s) of Mexico, is back and he will be making his middleweight debut. Munguia made his pro debut at the young age of 16 years old and worked his way to a top prospect within four years. Munguia was even named Prospect of the Year in 2017 by Ring Magazine. It was in 2018, where the young Mexican made a statement. Munguia was brought in as a late replacement to challenge Sadam Ali for the WBO World Super Welterweight Title after Liam Smith pulled out of the fight due to an illness. Munguia made the most of this opportunity and blasted out Ali in four rounds to become a world champion at only 21 years old. Most fans got their first glimpse of Munguia that night. He immediately became a fan favorite due to his aggressive style and his willingness to exchange punches. Munguia wasted no time and came back to fight in two months. Munguia was matched against the tough Liam Smith for his first defense of his title and he proved again he was a force to be reckoned with. Munguia defeated Smith by a 12 round unanimous decision in a good scrap. Munguia came back in two months again and stopped Brandon Cook in the 3rdround. Munguia also had another busy 2019, but there has been some criticism on him. Some observers have questioned if he is really that good? To start 2019, he had a slugfest against the undefeated Takeshi Inoue of Japan and it went all 12 roundswith Munguia winning a 12 round unanimous decision. The next fight would be a bad night for Munguia. He was once again forced to go all 12 rounds in another battle against Irishman Dennis Hogan. Munguia won a majority decision but some observers felt he lost that fight. Munguia ended the year by stopping the over matched Patrick Allotey. Even though Munguia went from top prospect to world champion, he has flaws. He lacks defense and is a one dimensional fighter but he is still very young. We will have to wait and see if he can improve his technique but one thing is for sure, he brings excitement and he likes to brawl. That is what brings fans to theseats.
Coming into Saturday, Munguia will be making his middleweight debut and now has Hall of Fame boxer Erik Morales as his trainer. Munguia is tall and should adapt to the new weight class but it remains to be seen how well he would doat this new weight. There is a lot of great competition in theweight class with names like Canelo Alvarez, DemetruisAndrade, Jermall Charlo, Gennady “GGG” Golovkin and SergiyDerevyanchenko. Munguia will need another statement for his debut and his challenger to welcome him is Gary O’ Sullivan.
Gary “Spike” O’ Sullivan (30-3, 21 KO’s) of Ireland, is the prefect opponent for Munguia. Sullivan will be heading into his eleven year as a professional. He started his career mainly fighting in Ireland and more recently has been fighting in the New York and Boston area. He has had his ups and downs in his career. He also made his way through the rankings as being a top prospect and eventually landing a WBA Middleweight Title Eliminator bout in 2015. However, he lost that fight by stoppage against Chris Eubank Jr. Since that loss, Sullivan climbed up the rankings again and earned another WBA Middleweight Title Eliminator bout against knockout artist David Lemieux in 2018. Once again, Sullivan was stopped in the fight and this time in the 1st round. There was still no quit in Sullivan and he has won two fights since the Lemieux fight. Now he will get another big fight against Munguia and he would need to make the most of it as this can be his last big shot. Sullivan also brings a crowd pleasing style and likes to come forward which should make the fight a barn burner as long as it lasts.
In the co-feature, WBC and WBO World Female Super Middleweight Champion Franchon Crews-Dezrun (6-1, 2 KO’s) of Baltimore, Maryland, will square off against Alejandra “El Tigre” Jimenez (12-0-1. 9 KO’s) of Mexico. Crews started her professional career in 2016 with a loss to Claressa Shields. Both women were making their professional debuts and Crews lost by a four round unanimous decision. Since then, Crews has gotten better. For Crews, 2018 was her coming out party when she defeated Maricela Cornejo by a 10 round majority decision for the vacant WBC title. To prove the win was no fluke, Crews defeated Cornejo in a rematch last year with a more decisive victory by 10 round unanimous decision. That victory earned her the WBO title. Crews would like a rematch with Shields but first would need to get by Jimenez. Jimenez, who is already a five year pro, started her career at heavyweight and was the former WBC World Female Heavyweight Champion. Jimenez has made a transformation and lost a lot weight. She is currently now campaigning at the super middleweight division at 168 lbs. There has been some bad blood between these ladies since last year and they will settle the score in the ring on Saturday.