World Champ Jaime Munguia to take on Dennis Hogan despite weight struggles
World champion Jaime Munguia has again dismissed suggestions he would move up in weight before his proposed spring defence against Ireland’s Dennis Hogan.
The Mexican widely outpointed Takeshi Inoue 120-108, 120-108, and 119-109 in Houston last night to retain his WBO light middleweight world crown and set up a bout with mandatory challenger Hogan – an obligation he intends to honour.
Despite the lopsided scorecards, though, the Golden Boy fighter didn’t have things all his own way at the Toyota Centre.
While he was largely dominant, Munguia [32(26)-0] was at times backed up by the much smaller but rugid Japanese fighter and certainly didn’t look as explosive as he did when winning the title last year against Sadam Ali.
It was no secret the 6’1″ fighter struggled to make the 154lbs limit and there were suggestions it hampered the ever-growing youngster’s performance.
However, the 22-year-old Tijuana native has said before that he will remain at light middleweight until 2020 and was adamant that this remains the plan when speaking ater the fight in Texas.
The champion, who had discussed unification bouts in the build up to Inoue, suggested he wants two more fights at light middle before trying to establish himself at 160lbs and chasing clashes with the likes of Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin..
Kildare’s Hogan, who watched the bout in his promoter Paul Keegan’s house in Australia, has always stated he wanted to dethrone the champ so will be happy with the news regardless.
“I think it was a great fight. I was surprised by him. He did great but I also received a lot of punches on the back of my head. I took the title, that’s all that matters,” Munguia said after the fight.
“It was difficult to make weight, but I will do all I have to do to make 154lbs,” he noted before being asked if the Hogan fight was worth staying at 154lbs for.
“I will move up to 160, but only after a few fights,” he said, indicating that Munguia-Hogan will indeed happen.
He sure does have a mandatory coming up @dennis_h_hogan @ben_damon @Irishboxingcom @ballsdotie @GavanCasey @ausboxing @boc236 https://t.co/Ec7W3gzJAL
— Paul Keegan (@paulkeegs) January 27, 2019
Preliminary talks for the fight had begun even before last night’s clash and Hogan has revealed that Ireland is a potential, if unlikely, destination for the fight.
What is also being reported is that the bout will play out on the Canelo v Danny Jacobs undercard on May 4th.
With negotiations having already began and Hogan [28(7)-1(0)-1] an official mandatory, the making of the match-up is expect to be smooth and the fight should be confirmed relatively shortly.
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