Jaime Munguía and Bektemir Melikuziev have reportedly come to terms for a WBA super middleweight title fight. Munguía named his mandatory challenger after beating Nikita Zon by unanimous decision Saturday in Riyadh, but Sergio Mora still doubts he’ll take the fight.
“I think Munguía is going to stay away from him,” Mora said during his discussion with Chris Mannix. “Well, I think he’s going to fight him. I don’t think he’s going to give up his belt, and everything I’ve been told [is] that they’ve come to terms on the fight,” Mannix said on his channel. He gave no date for the defense.
Mora had already picked Melikuziev before the Zon fight. He sees a natural 168-pounder who uses his southpaw angles better than Zon and hits harder. Mannix brought up Melikuziev’s close fight with Darius Fulghum, when he needed a knockdown in the 12th. That’s a fair reason to hesitate over picking Bektemir, but Munguía gave him something specific to work on in Riyadh.
When Zon hurt Munguía in the sixth, the champion bent forward and pulled his gloves up around his ears. Zon kept hooking at the sides of the guard. Mora thought a straight punch or an uppercut could have brought Munguía’s head up and given referee Tony Weeks a reason to stop it. Both men backed Weeks for letting it continue. Munguía came back to hurt Zon in the same round.
What would worry me about Bektemir is what happens before Munguía gets to the ropes. Munguía likes to walk a man down and get close enough to work with both hands.
Every step in gives a southpaw with good feet a chance to move outside his lead foot and send a left hand through the middle. Munguía can come back from one bad minute, as he showed against Zon. Against Melikuziev, he may have to solve that left hand every time he tries to get his own offense going.
