Tag: Jimmy Kelly

Now Jaime Munguia waits.

The middleweight contender put Jimmy Kelly three times and stopped him in the fifth round of a scheduled 12-round super middleweight bout Saturday at Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

Munguia (40-0, 32 KOs) now hopes to get a big fight at 160 pounds, with WBC titleholder Jermall Charlo squarely in his sights.

The Mexican and his American counterpart had agreed to fight next month only to have negotiations break down over television rights. Munguia’s promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, recently challenged Charlo to make the fight happen.

Jaime Munguía drops Kelly THREE times & finishes the show 👊#MunguíaKelly pic.twitter.com/uFKPsoa6l5

— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) June 12, 2022

“I want to say what Oscar said to Jermall Charlo, to come out here, to show some balls and stop hiding behind [manager] Al Haymon and fight me,” Munguia said through a translator after his victory. “I think it’d be a great fight for everyone.

“We hope by the end of this year to make that fight.”

Munguia had suggested that the clever Kelly (26-3, 10 KOs) might give him trouble early in the fight with his boxing ability and movement.

And that’s how it played out for four-plus rounds, as the Irishman poked out his jab, landed power shots here and there and then moved or held to avoid anything Munguia fired in return.

Munguia seemed somewhat lost for much of the fourth round, as if he was groping for a way to slow down his fleet opponent.

Then came the fireworks. About halfway through Round 5 Munguia landed a left hook as Kelly pulled backward, which put him on the behind and hurt him.

Kelly got to his feet and was matching Munguia punch for punch but he went down against from a right uppercut. Once again he got up but he finally sat down under a barrage of punches, which prompted referee Thomas Taylor to stop the fight.

The official time of the stoppage was 2:57 of Round 5.

“It was difficult at the beginning because he’s a slippery, tough fighter who could really take some punches,” Munguia said. “He was trying to do his plan of attack but I had to do my thing, slow him down a little bit and work to the body.”

Munguia came in at 165 pounds for the fight, five more than the middleweight limit and the heaviest the former junior middleweight champ had ever weighed.

He said he felt good at the weight, which gives him an option if he can’t secure a title fight at middleweight.

“I think it helped me out a lot,” he said of extra weight. “I’m ready to go back to 160 to fight for a world title or to move up to 168 pounds. I’m ready for any challenge.”

Jaime Munguia still covets a fight with 160-pound titleholder Jermall Charlo but he’ll have another man in front of him Saturday in Anaheim, California (DAZN).

Munguia, a former 154-pound champ, will face second choice Jimmy Kelly in a stay-busy fight as he continues to lobby for a high-level fight.

Kelly (26-2, 10 KOs) is a solid, experienced middleweight but not the big-name opponent the Mexican is seeking.

“We hope this next fight we get a big challenge and a big fight. I think Charlo. I would like that fight,” Munguia told FightHubTV.com.

Munguia (39-0, 31 KOs) is 5-0 against respectable opposition since moving up to 160 pounds, including a third-round knockout of D’Mitrius Ballard in February.

He and Charlo seemed to have a deal in place to fight next month on Showtime – both fighters agreed to the terms – but negotiations broke off when Golden Boy Promotions, which handles Munguia, demanded that DAZN play a role in the domestic broadcast.

Showtime offered Golden Boy-DAZN overseas rights and the rights to a rematch but the offers weren’t accepted.

That forced both fighters to seek new opponents. Charlo settled on Maciej Sulecki, who he is expected to fight soon after Charlo injured his back during trainer. And Munguia will face Kelly.

Munguia isn’t pretending that Kelly is in his class – the Englishman is about a 30-1 underdog – but he believes people might be underestimating him.

Erik Morales, Munguia’s trainer, expects Kelly to use movement to frustrate his fighter.

“I think he’s good but obviously a lot of people don’t think he is,” Munguia said. “I’ve seen him. I think he’s a little difficult. I know he’s very motivated to win and take away my “0”. But we are very prepared. We will do well.”

Munguia made one change for the fight, moving his training camp from high altitude outside Mexico City to high altitude in Southern California, in Big Bear.

He and trainer Erik Morales decided to change locations to get him better sparring. Quality middleweights are hard to come by in Mexico, even as workout partners.

“Truthfully it was due to the lack of sparring in Mexico due to my weight,” he said. “It’s hard to find sparring my size. That’s why I came to the U.S.”

The next step, assuming he beats Kelly, is to find a high-profile opponent his size.

[lawrence-related id=28324,28210]