Jaime Munguia vs. Gary O’Sullivan set for Jan. 11 in San Antonio

Jaime Munguia will move up a division to face middleweight Gary O’Sullivan in a 12-round bout at the Alamodome in San Antonio on Jan. 11.

After five successful defenses of his junior middleweight title, Mexican slugger Jaime Munguia is moving up a division.

The 23-year-old makes his middleweight debut against Irish veteran Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan in a 12-rounder on Jan. 11 at the Alamodome in San Antonio on DAZN, Golden Boy Promotions has announced.

“I feel very happy to be starting the year 2020 with a great fight at a great place like San Antonio, Texas,” Munguia said.”I have fought in Houston, Texas before, where the people there treated me very well. I think that San Antonio won’t be any different.”

Munguia burst onto the scene last year when he appeared from nowhere to poleaxe Sadam Ali to win the WBO junior middleweight belt. He went on to defend it successfully against Liam Smith, Brandon Cook, Takeshi Inoue, Dennis Hogan and most recently Patrick Allotey. With each subsequent fight, however, Munguia, who sports a hulkish build, found it increasingly onerous to make the 154-pound limit.

“We’re going to deliver a great fight against a tough fighter in Gary O’Sullivan,” Munguia said. “He’s great and he’s strong, but we’re going to come very well prepared. We plan to do an excellent job and make it very clear who is the best in the ring.”

Munguia (34-0, 27 knockouts) joins a packed middleweight crew, which includes stablemate and countryman Canelo Alvarez (who may or may not return to that division after moving up to light heavyweight recently), as well as titleholders Gennadiy Golovkin, Jermall Charlo, and Demetrius Andrade.

The 35-year-old O’Sullivan ( 30-3, 21 KOs) reeled off consecutive wins since getting starched by David Lemieux last year. O’Sullivan made a name for himself when he wiped out once highly regarded prospect Antoine Douglas back in 2017.

“For me it’s a dream come true to fight the undefeated champion of the world and the No. 1-ranked fighter in the world,” O’Sullivan said. “It makes it even better that he’s Mexican. I grew up watching the great Mexican champions, and to get the opportunity to fight Jaime is an honor.”

The undercard bouts have not been announced.

Demetrius Andrade says he was victim of racial profiling in gun case

Demetrius Andrade says he was the victim of racial profiling when police arrested him in his hometown of Providence last year.

Demetrius Andrade believes he was the subject of racial profiling by Providence, Rhode Island police. 

The 31-year-old middleweight titleholder was arrested and charged in his hometown last December with carrying an unlicensed gun that was discovered during what began as a traffic stop. The gun reportedly was registered in New Hampshire, where Andrade lives, but not in Rhode Island.

In a motion sent to the state court of Rhode Island on Wednesday, Andrade argued that the search was unjustified and unlawful under both the state and U.S. constitutions. Citing body-cam footage worn by police, Andrade argues that he was detained longer than the time needed to deal with a minor violation. Police seized his backpack after 11 minutes, Andrade said.

“This was, at most, a parking violation,” his attorney told the Providence Journal. “And they turned it into a full-fledged search. We think his rights were absolutely violated.”

The incident occurred a couple of months after Andrade (26-0, 16 knockouts) won a vacant middleweight title when he outpointed Walter Kautondokwa at the TD Garden in Boston.

A hearing is scheduled for early December.