One of boxing’s youngest stars returns to action when Jaime Munguia (33-0, 26 KOs) defends his WBO junior middleweight title for the fifth time against Patrick Allotey (40-3, 30 KOs) this Saturday at Dignity Sports Park in Carson, California,
live on DAZN.
Their fight caps an exciting Mexican Independence Day weekend and Munguia is arguably one of its brightest stars not named Canelo. Munguia was originally angling to face former two-division world champion Jessie Vargas until negotiations fell apart because the fighters could not agree to a catch-weight and eventually went their separate ways.
With Canelo juggling options after losing his IBF belt, Golovkin ordered to face Derevyanchenko, Munguia was forced to look elsewhere. That breakdown paved the way for Allotey.
Tale of the Tape
Allotey will be competing in the U.S. for only the second time. In April 2015, he was knocked out by Patrick Teixeira but has won 10 of his last 11 fights including a unanimous decision win over Sherif Kasongo in December to earn a crack at Munguia.The native of Accra, Ghana turned pro in 2006 at only 16-years old. He has an impressive skillset with years of professional experience under his belt.
Despite losses to Teixeira and standout contender Kanat Islam, Allotey has been on a winning streak and last tasted defeat against the aforementioned Islam back in 2016.
However, he is also nearly 41-years old now and still competing in a dangerous sport primarily reserved for younger men.
Munguia is an undefeated world champion of Mexican descent who ascended to the highest levels of the 154-pound division with a knockout over Sadam Ali in May to capture the WBO Junior Middleweight crown. Since then, Munguia has made successful title defenses against Liam Smith, Brandon Cook, Takeshi Inoue and Dennis Hogan.
However, Munguia enters this fight on the heels of a controversial majority decision over Dennis Hogan in April. It was a fight where some of his technical deficiencies were exposed. Part of Munguia’s issues stem from his struggle to make weight, which appear to be affecting his recent performances.
In an unsurprising move, Munguia told The Athletic that this title defense will be his last before moving up to middleweight. The Mexican won’t enjoy his usual size and strength advantages at 160 so it will be interesting to see how effective he will be at the next level.
Prediction
Allotey is a respectable fighter but he’s only the WBO #12 super welterweight and does not figure to pose much of a threat. He’s lost each time he’s stepped up to fight quality opponents. The Ghanaian also stands three inches shorter than Munguia to further illustrate the very real potential that this bout could be a
mismatch. However, the opportunity to win in dominating fashion maybe exactly what Munguia needs right now given the mixed results of his last outing. The big task for Munguia on Saturday will be to prove that his near-disaster against Hogan
was just an off-night. In the end, I believe the scales will be a much sterner test for the WBO junior middleweight champion than what his opponent brings to the table.
Verdict: Expect Munguia to make short, destructive work of Allotey – KO4
