Notebook: Munguia pumped for homecoming; Ballard unfazed by road trip

Colbert gets new foe for Showtime bout; Hrgovic-Zhang purse bid set; Charlo case update; Quick hits; Show and tell

Feb 15, 2022

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Please note that the previous version of this sent to subscribers was sent accidentally before the notebook or editing was complete. My apologies. This is the proper version. — Dan

Since late 2017, Jaime Munguia has fought 13 times but only three of the bouts have been in his home country of Mexico and none of have been his hometown of Tijuana.

So, the unbeaten middleweight contender and former WBO junior middleweight world titlist is excited for his homecoming fight at the Plaza Monumental de Playas in Tijuana.

That is where Munguia will meet D’Mitrius Ballard in a 12-round regional title defense in the main event of a Golden Boy Promotions card on Saturday (DAZN, 9 p.m. ET)

“I am very happy to be coming back to Tijuana, the city that saw me grow up and has supported me throughout my career,” Munguia said recently trough an interpreter. “And I am very motivated to work hard for the people of Tijuana.

“I have a big responsibility to my hometown after fighting far from home for a long time. I’m coming back (having been) a world champion at 154 pounds, have become a figure in the boxing world. It’s a big responsibility and I know it. I prepared everyday to make my hometown proud and have to really concentrate to not let in the distractions from home.”

Mungia, who supposed to face Ballard last April before Ballard suffered an elbow injury and withdrew, will be boxing at a venue he once dreamed about fighting at.

“I remember going by the Plaza Monumental de Playas De Tijuana when I was a kid and would dream of one day being able to fight there,” he said. “I went to a fight there featuring Julio Cesar Chavez (Jr.) and (Humberto) ‘Zorrita’ Soto and it was full of people. It was amazing. On (Saturday) I am going to be so proud to be there representing Mexico, representing Tijuana.”

Munguia (38-0, 30 KOs), 25, defended his junior middleweight title five times before moving up to 160 pounds in 2020. He has won his four middleweight fights, including three by knockout, but he has yet to face a top opponent, having beaten Spike O’Sullivan, Tureano Johnson, Kamil Szeremta and Gabriel Rosado in his most recent bout in November.

Mungia could have demanded an immediate title shot in the new division based on having been a WBO titleholder at junior middleweight and vacating to move up, but he has so far not done that, having not had any interest in what would, on paper, be a stylistically nightmarish fight against slick, southpaw titleholder Demetrius Andrade.

Munguia has also taken time to develop a rapport with trainer Erik Morales, perhaps Tijuana’s greatest all-time boxer, who came on board a few fights ago.

“I am very happy about the changes Erik Morales has made to my training,” Munguia said. “Erick has taught me to think more, breath, relax, take my time and control the timing of the fight. His training has influenced my style by throwing more combinations making sure I use my jab. Plus, he has a lot of experience in the ring as well and I trust his judgment.”

Ballard (21-0-1, 13 KOs), 28, of Temple Hills, Maryland, returned from the elbow injury and won a 10-round decision over Paul Valenzuela Jr. on the Munguia-Rosado undercard at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, paving the way for the bout to be rescheduled.

“My elbow injury was pretty serious at the time to keep me out of the ring,” Ballard said. “But right now, we have rehabbed it very well and my last fight in November, I had no issues with it and I feel very confident.”

Ballard said he has no issue facing heavy favorite Munguia in his hometown. He embraces it.

“It doesn’t bother me that we are fighting in Tijuana. As a fighter, generally speaking, it is expected to go into hostile environments, into enemy territory and take their belt, win the fight,” Ballard said. “Errol Spence did it, Terence Crawford did it, (George) Kambosos just did it. I can go on and on. It’s required of us. It’s required of boxers; it’s part of the journey. It’s just my time and my opportunity. I am extremely excited. I had a long layoff before the Nov. 13 fight. To be 28 and 21-0 and a fight with Jaime, this is what I have dreamed of. When they told me it would be in Mexico I had no problem with it. This is a big opportunity for me, for my career.

“I know that I am a big underdog in this fight, mostly because people don’t know much about me. But I have a lot of experience, and have been in training camps with high profile champions like Canelo (Alvarez). I am just ready to take what I know is mine.”

New foe for Colbert

Junior lightweight contender Chris Colbert will face Hector Luis Garcia in the new 12-round main event of the Premier Boxing Champions tripleheader on Showtime on Feb. 26 (10 p.m. ET) at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, PBC and the network announced on Monday.

Colbert (16-0, 6 KOs), 25, of Brooklyn, New York, the WBA’s mandatory challenger, was initially scheduled to challenge titleholder Roger Gutierrez (26-3-1, 20 KOs), 26, of Venezuela, but he came down with Covid-19 and was forced out of the bout.

The fight with Garcia is officially a WBA eliminator, even though Colbert is already the mandatory challenger. If Colbert (16-0, 6 KOs), 25, of Brooklyn, New York, beats Garcia, the WBA has mandated the bout with Gutierrez be rescheduled within 90 days.

PBC had Garcia (14-0, 10 KOs), 30, a southpaw from the Dominican Republic, on standby in event a new boxer was needed for the main event, as it does regularly for its cards. Garcia is coming off a unanimous eight-round decision win against Isaac Avelar on a PBC card in Minneapolis on Dec. 18.

Also on the Showtime card will be a 10-round junior welterweight fight between 2016 U.S. Olympian Gary Antuanne Russell (14-0, 14 KOs), the younger brother of former featherweight titlist Gary Russell Jr., and former titlist Viktor Postol (31-3, 12 KOs) and IBF junior bantamweight titlist Jerwin Ancajas (33-1-2, 22 KOs) defending against Fernando Martinez (13-0, 8 KOs) in the opener.

Hrgovic-Zhang purse bid

With the camps unable to reach a deal by the deadline, the IBF on Monday scheduled a purse bid for the heavyweight title elimination bout between Filip Hrgovic and Zhang Zhilei and notified all of its registered promoters.

The purse bid is scheduled to take place on Feb. 24 at 12 p.m. ET at the IBF offices in Springfield, New Jersey, and via video conference, although the sides could still make a deal up to 15 minutes before the bids are unsealed.

The fight, whose winner would become a mandatory challenger for unified titlist Oleksandr Usyk, was ordered on Feb. 7 when Zhang accepted a position in the fight and to negotiate with Hrgovic (14-0, 12 KOs), 29, of Croatia, after several others had turned it down or been unavailable, including Luis Ortiz, Joseph Parker, Tony Yoka, Joe Joyce, Agit Kabayel, Andy Ruiz, Murat Gassiev and Demsey McKean. Zhang (23-0-1, 18 KOs), 38, of China, was next in the IBF rankings.

Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn promotes Zhang, a two-time Olympian and 2008 silver medalist, and co-promotes Hrgovic, a 2016 Olympic bronze medalist, with Wasserman Boxing but was not able to make a deal. If it goes to the purse bid Hrgovic would receive the lion’s share of a 60-40 split.

There has been discussion of the bout taking place on the undercard of Usyk’s spring rematch with Anthony Joshua.

Quick hits

WBC middleweight titlist Jermall Charlo, who was arrested on Friday in Fort Bend County, Texas, and charged with third degree felony assault on a family/household member after having a previous conviction, spent the weekend in jail but was released on $10,000 bail on Monday after “the court modifies defendant bond conditions by withdrawing the requirement of active satellite monitoring,” according to Fort Bend County online court records. Charlo is due for his first court hearing on March 28, according to the online records. According to the records, the case is in connection with a Sept. 5 incident. He faces 2 to 10 years in prison if convicted. Charlo (32-0, 22 KOs), 31, of Houston, who has made four title defenses, is a leading candidate to land a spring fight with undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez.

Cruiserweight king Mairis Breidis (28-1, 20 KOs), 37, of Latvia, will defend his IBF title against Jai Opetaia (21-0, 17 KOs), a 26-year-old southpaw, on April 6 at a site to be determined in Opetaia’s home country of Australia, promoter Dean Lonergan announced after making a deal with Breidis promoter Wasserman Boxing. Breidis will be making his second defense of his second title reign. He will be fighting in his eighth different country, having previously boxed in Latvia, Poland, the United States, Greece, Germany, Russia and England. Opetaia, a 2012 Olympian who didn’t turn pro until 2015, will be facing his first recognizable opponent.

Former heavyweight titlist Deontay Wilder, who has been knocked out by Tyson Fury in back-to-back championship fights, including in the 11th round of their third bout in the 2021 fight of year in October, is still figuring out his next move. His team has been expecting a late spring/early summer return but Wilder (42-2-1, 41 KOs), 36, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is apparently unsure what he wants to do. He said recently on the Byron Scott Podcast he was considering using Ayahuasca, a plant-based psychedelic drug, to help him decide what to do. “I'm thinking about doing Ayahuasca,” he said in the interview on Friday. “That's gonna be my decision making process. Boxing's put a bad taste (in my mouth) because of what it’s done to me. It’s dangerous, politics, cheating. I still have love for the sport though.”

Show and tell

All-time pound-for-pound king Sugar Robinson and fellow legendary Hall of Famer Jake LaMotta fought each other six times between 1943 and 1951 with Robinson going 5-1 in their series. The most famous of their battles was when Robinson stopped LaMotta in the 13th round to win the middleweight championship in Chicago in what became known as “The St. Valentines Day Massacre,” because Robinson so thoroughly battered LaMotta, who was stopped on his feet (a source of pride for LaMotta was not being knocked down by Robinson). That famous sixth battle took place on Feb. 14, 1951 — 71 years ago on Monday. Here is a copy of the April 1951 Ring magazine, whose cover story was about the fight, in my collection. Yeah, I have a vast collection of Ring magazines dating to the 1920s.

Munguia photo: Zanfer Promotions; Colbert photo: Esther Lin/Showtime

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