Jaime Munguia and his opponent Bruno Surace weighed 169.1 pounds at Friday’s weigh-in for their 10-round catchweight bout this Saturday, December 14, at the Estadio Caliente in Tijuana, Mexico. The event is displayed live on ESPN+ at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT.
Saturday’s Fight Card: Preview on ESPN+
Recently beaten former WBO junior middleweight champion Munguia (44-1, 35 KOs) is hoping for an easy win in his showcase against France’s non-top fighter Surace (20-0-2, 4 KOs).
For the 28-year-old Munguia, this is a step down from his last fight against Erik Bazinyan on September 20th. It’s possible that given the short time frame, Munguias’ promoters didn’t want to let him face a fighter at the level or better than Bazinyan for fear he might get beaten.
At the co-feature weights, super bantamweight contender Alan Picasso (30-0-1, 16 KOs) weighed 125.9 pounds and his opponent Yehison Cuello (13-2-1, 11 KOs) weighed 124.6 pounds 10 round competition.
Weights for Saturday’s event on ESPN+ at 9 p.m. ET.
– Jaime Munguia 169.1 vs. Bruno Surace 169.1
– Alan Picasso 125.9 vs. Yehison-Hals 124.6
– Jorge Garcia Perez 154.3 vs. Kudratillo Abdukakhorov 158.2
– Sebastian Hernandez 123.6 vs. Sergio Martin Sosa 123.2
– Christian Islands Roldan 130.7; John Anacona 129.5
Munguia lost to Canelo Alvarez for the first time in his 11-year professional career on May 4th. The defeat was long overdue, but Munguia had not fought against high-ranking opponents, which protected him. Fans believe Munguia was protected all these years to get a big cash-out fight against Canelo.
Rebuilding Munguia: The path to the rematch?
Now that it has happened, the process begins again, with Munguia taking on weaker fighters in the hopes of landing at No. 1 for a lucrative rematch against Canelo. If that’s the case, that’s disgusting, but watching Munguia take on Surace and Bazinyan in back-to-back fights, one can only come to that conclusion.
“He is a strong fighter. He throws a lot of combinations. We have to be careful with this. I studied it and am confident in the work we have done. I will walk away with my hand raised in victory,” Munguia said.
“If I knew which round I could take him out, I would put all my money on it. But I don’t know. It is uncertain. I can now tell you with complete certainty that I will go for the knockout.”
