Notebook: Munguia to face D'chenko as both move up to 168
Canelo 5th highest-paid athlete in world; Prograis plans?; Quick hits; Show and tell
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For the past several years former junior middleweight titlist Jaime Munguia has received criticism for his soft schedule of facing one overmatched opponent after another, be it in 154-pound title defenses or at middleweight, where he has fought for the past two years.
But now Munguia, who has turned down the opportunity for mandatory middleweight title fights, will have his first fight as a full-fledged super middleweight and take on his most notable opponent since a junior middleweight title defense against Liam Smith in 2018.
Munguia will face three-time middleweight title challenger Sergiy Derevyanchenko, who is also moving up in weight, in the 12-round main event of a Golden Boy card on June 10 (DAZN, 8 p.m. ET) at Toyota Arena in Ontario, California, the promoter announced on Wednesday.
“I am very excited to return to the ring and even more excited to face a fighter like Derevyanchenko,” Munguia said. “I think it will be a very intense fight from start to finish, but like always we are training very hard and are very ready to give the fans a very exciting fight.”
Munguia (41-0, 33 KOs), 26, of Mexico, fought three times in 2022 and easily knocked out all three huge underdogs in one sided fights: D’Mitrius Ballard in the third round, Jimmy “Kilrain” Kelly in the fifth and, most recently, Gonzalo Gaston Coria in the third round in November.
Derevyanchenko (14-4, 10 KOs), 37, a Ukraine native living in Brooklyn, New York, is a significant notch above those fighters despite having lost three of his last four bouts and four of his last six.
In 2018, he lost a split decision to Daniel Jacobs for the vacant IBF middleweight title; a disputed decision to Gennadiy Golovkin for the IBF belt in 2019; a competitive decision to Jermall Charlo for the WBC title in 2020; and a hard-fought majority 10-round decision to Carlos Adames in December 2021. Derevyanchenko bounced back from that loss with a 10-round rout of Joshua Conley in July.
“I’ve been in some of the biggest middleweight title fights over the last few years and as my fans know I always come to fight,” Derevyanchenko said. “I feel like the GGG fight a few years ago was a fight that should have gone my way, so getting back to a title fight and becoming a world champion is my main goal. Munguia is a great fighter and a win over him gets me back on track to winning a world title. June 10 will be a war, a bloodbath, and I’m willing to give it everything I’ve got to come away victorious. I will be looking to get this win for myself but also for my country, Ukraine.”
Although Golden Boy announced the fight, Derevyanchenko told Fight Freaks Unite it was not yet signed.
“I just got the call from my managers, Keith Connolly and Al Haymon. They told me the Munguia fight is a go. I’m waiting on paperwork and I’m ready to go June 10,” Derevyanchenko said.
Before turning to Derevyanchenko there were conversations between Matchroom Boxing, the promoter of WBA light heavyweight titlist Dmitry Bivol, and Golden Boy about Munguia moving all the way up to light heavyweight to challenge for the title this summer.
Talks did not get very far and Bivol told Fight Freaks Unite recently that it was not a fight that interested him.
Golden Boy CEO Oscar De La Hoya said he is happy to have delivered a quality opponent for Munguia to face.
“Munguia has always wanted the toughest fights — and this is going to be one of them,” De La Hoya said. “For years, Derevyanchenko has gone life and death with the top middleweights and has always reached the final bell. Should Jaime get past him — and I believe he will — he is immediately in position for a world title shot.”
Canelo 5th highest-paid athlete
Undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez, who is boxing’s biggest star, has been tabbed as the fifth highest-paid athlete in the world on the annual top 10 list by Forbes. According to Forbes, Alvarez earned $110 million during the period covered.
The four athletes ahead of Alvarez are three soccer players, Cristiano Ronaldo ($136 million), Lionel Messi $130 million and Kylian Mbappe ($120 million), and NBA superstar LeBron James ($119.5 million).
The time period for the earnings ran from May 1, 2022 to May 1, 2023, meaning the multi-millions Alvarez will earn on Saturday for his title defense against John Ryder in a Guadalajara, Mexico, homecoming fight, won’t count until next year’s tally.
During the period covered, Alvarez was reported to have earned $100 million for two fights, a loss challenging WBA light heavyweight titlist Dmitry Bivol last May and a win in his third fight with Gennadiy Golovkin to retain the super middleweight belts in September. He earned an additional $10 million from a variety of endorsement deals, including with Hennessy and Michelob Ultra.
Forbes also listed other products Alvarez is involved with, including sports drink maker Yaoca, fitness app I Can and gas station chain Canelo Energy. He also has a clothing line and branded credit card. In September, he launched VMC, a canned cocktail brand.
Quick hits
WBC junior welterweight titlist Regis Prograis (28-1, 24 KOs), 34, is a promotional free agent who has received offers from Matchroom Boxing and Top Rank but appears headed to a deal with Matchroom, sources close to Prograis told Fight Freaks Unite. Should he come to terms with Matchroom, he could be back in the ring June 17 in his hometown of New Orleans, the sources said. Matchroom isn’t deep at 140 pounds but promotes Richardson Hitchins and Liam Paro in the division. Top Rank promotes WBO/lineal champion Josh Taylor (who handed Prograis his only loss by majority decision in a 2019 unification fight), Teofimo Lopez, Jose Ramirez, Arnold Barboza and Lindolfo Delgado. Prograis has been idle since Nov. 26, when he stopped Jose Zepeda to claim the vacant WBC belt and become a two-time 140-pound titleholder.
The IBF on Wednesday approved a junior featherweight title eliminator between Sam Goodman (14-0, 7 KOs), 24, of Australia, and Ra’eese Aleem (20-0, 12 KOs), 32, of Las Vegas. The IBF said it is awaiting signed contracts for the fight that is scheduled for June 8 in Australia on a No Limit Boxing card. The winner of the fight will become a mandatory challenger for IBF/WBA titlist Marlon Tapales.
The Boxxer card on Saturday at Resorts World Arena in Birmingham, England has an American outlet. The card will stream on FITE (2 p.m. ET) as part of its FITE+ package. The card is headlined by light heavyweight contender Joshua Buatsi (16-0, 13 KOs), 30, of England, in his first fight since parting ways with Matchroom Boxing and signing with Boxxer, against Pawel Stepien (18-0-1, 12 KOs), 32, of Poland.
Top Rank has acquired U.S. rights to a card that will stream on ESPN+ on Friday (3 p.m. ET) from the PalaSport in Tivoli, Italy. In the main event of the four-bout stream, Italian southpaw Mauro Forte (17-0-2, 7 KOs), 24, will seek to avenge a November 2021 draw against countryman Francesco Grandelli (16-1-3, 3 KOs), 28, in a rematch for the vacant European featherweight title.
Show and tell
Wednesday was a great day as I wrapped up a large memorabilia trade that has been in the works for quite some time. It involved me giving up 25 items (a combination of duplicate posters, programs and tickets) from my collection and receiving 22 items in return of similar value. For me, the key pick up of all of the pieces I added to my collection was something that has been on my want list for years — a somewhat scarce program from Muhammad Ali’s final fight in the Bahamas on Dec. 11, 1981. It was a 10-round unanimous decision loss to Trevor Berbick, who would go on to win the WBC heavyweight title in 1986 and then lose it in his first defense to Mike Tyson eight months later.
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Canelo photo: Melina Pizano/Matchroom Boxing
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DLH can spout his drivel all he wants but Derevyanchenko is way past his sell by date and is 38 this year (Halloween 2023).
Munguia may only be 26 but he's been boxing as a pro for 10 years now and he's had 41 fights, he should have fought a few of the top 5 fighters (at 160 or 168) by now.
I simply don't believe that those guiding Munguia are really trying to make fights with those at the top of those divisions.
nice Ali program! One of the saddest events in boxing history (saying a lot), but a great artifact!
Re: the Matchroom/Prograis relationship, it stinks that TR didn't land him considering the wealth of potential matchups there, but if I wanna look at the glass as half full, which I know is tantamount to sacrilege in our fine sport, I'd point out that Eddie also has Catterall who deserves a title fight after his robbery vs Taylor, and DAZN may eventually push some GBP cooperation for some crossing of the street fights vs Ryan Garcia a few fights down the road, or even if Regis moves to 147 vs Vergil Ortiz, etc.
Hopefully this isn't just more time wasted in Regis' curious career.