Sources: Munguia signs with Top Rank, will fight Bazinyan on Sept. 20
168 contender also parts ways with trainer Freddie Roach
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Super middleweight contender Jaime Munguia, one of Mexico’s most popular and best fighters, has signed a multi-fight promotional deal with Top Rank, sources with knowledge of the agreement told Fight Freaks Unite on Tuesday.
The first fight of the deal, which will see him fight exclusively on ESPN platforms, will be against unbeaten Canadian contender Erik Bazinyan in the main event of a Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card on Sept. 20 in the Phoenix area, the sources said, confirming a report by ESPN Deportes.
Munguia has been promoted for many years by Golden Boy Promotions and Zanfer Promotions’ Fernando Beltran and been a staple on DAZN, but with his deals apparently up, Munguia made the move. However, the sources said Zanfer, one of Mexico’s leading promoters, which has had a close relationship with Top Rank for decades, will remain involved.
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Unrelated to the promotional change, Munguia has also parted way with Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach, who trained him for his past two fights against Canelo Alvarez and John Ryder, a move Roach confirmed to FFU.
Munguia is returning to work with his previous trainer, Mexican legend Erik Morales, the Hall of Fame former four-division titleholder, a source told FFU.
Munguia (43-1, 34 KOs), 27, who is a former WBO junior middleweight titleholder, is coming off his first defeat, an entertaining decision loss challenging undisputed 168-pound champion and countryman Alvarez on May 4 in a major PBC on Prime pay-per-view fight at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Alvarez knocked Munguia down in the fourth round and won 117-110, 116-111 and 115-112 but acquitted himself well in by far his biggest fight.
Munguia knocked out Sadam Ali in the fourth round to win the WBO 154-pound title in 2018 and made five defenses before vacating and moving up to middleweight, where he fought a series of non-descript opponents in mismatches between 2020 and 2022.
Then Munguia moved up to super middleweight in 2023 and in his only fight that year outpointed former three-time middleweight title challenger Sergiy Derevyanchenko in a hellacious slugfest many picked as the fight of the year.
Munguia followed with a one-sided battering of Ryder in a ninth-round knockout in January that sent Ryder into retirement. It was a more impressive performance than Alvarez had against Ryder in May 2023, when he knocked Ryder down but was forced to go the distance in a title defense. The comparison made between the two fights by many led to Munguia getting the fight with Alvarez.
Bazinyan (32-0-1, 23 KOs), who fights out of Montreal, is coming off a 10-round split draw with Shakeel Phinn on May 2.
If Munguia beats Bazinyan and Quebec-based contender Christian Mbilli (27-0, 23 KOs), a 2016 French Olympian co-promoted by Top Rank, defeats Derevyanchenko in the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN main even on Aug.17 in Quebec City, it is likely that Munguia-Mbilli would be in the cards.
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Munguia photo: Esther Lin/PBC
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You think that money Top Rank allocated for resigning Shakur, now belongs to Jaime MunguÃa? Me too. Brilliant! Twitterson Meltdown incoming lol