JAIME Munguia knows the weight of expectation hangs heavy around his shoulders ahead of a prime ESPN+ slot this evening. More than the broadcaster, Munguia returns to Tijuana to showcase his skills to an appreciative and expectant Mexican crowd.
Munguia’s opponent, Bruno Surace, is relatively unknown. Still, for every mystery man that folds in a couple of rounds, one arrives out of the blue and stuns the fight favourite. Last week’s winner, Rafael Espinoza, is proof of concept. Therefore, Munguia must stay switched on.
Even though Top Rank is now promoting him, Munguia’s pathway remains familiar: move along carefully, step forward, have a hard fight, and then take a little step back.
Usually, Munguia wins the harder fight. Currently, he’s continuing the bounce-back process from a Canelo loss. Last time, Erik Bazinyan, an unbeaten fighter based in Canada, was served up to start the rebuilding wheels in motion.
This assignment is all about getting Munguia out one more time before a big push in 2025. Talk of a WBC Interim title fight with Christian Mbilli has been floated. None of that will matter if he can’t get past the 25-0-2 (4 KOs) man from Marseille.
“He is a strong fighter. He throws a lot of combinations. We have to be careful with that. I’ve studied him, and I’m confident of the work that we have done. I will walk away with my hand raised in victory,” said Munguia.
“If I knew in what round I could knock him out, I would bet all of my money on that. But I don’t know. It’s uncertain. I can tell you now with full certainty that I will be looking for the knockout. It’s a big weight on my shoulders to fight in this stadium in front of all my people.
“It’s going to fill me with a lot of emotions. But I have to control that and do an intelligent fight. And I’m prepared to do that and give a great show to the people. We have to focus on everything. Obviously, we focus on improving my boxing skills, but we also focus on the physical conditioning and the mental aspects.”
Little is known about Frenchman Surace, but he has seen plenty of Munguia in return and was complimentary of his opponent at the fight week press conference.
“I have seen many of his fights since he was a junior middleweight. He’s an aggressive fighter who fights in the Mexican tradition. We are focused on every detail because the details matter in a big fight. We are ready for a war,” said Bruno Surace.
“I’m very excited to be in his hometown. It’ll be more noise. The ambience will be great. And the stress is on him. I love this city. The atmosphere is fire. I like the people, and I’m excited to be here.
“He’s an outstanding fighter. He’s aggressive and very offensive. In the first few rounds, I’ll have to get a lot of information and lay out a plan to fight him. But I’ve also seen many videos of him, and I know how I will need to box him.”
On the undercard, Alan Picasso Romero limbers up for a potential shot at Naoya Inoue in the States by boxing Isaac Sackey over 10 rounds.
Picasso will be keen to show his true worth and not become a sidenote KO sandwiched between Sam Goodman (new date pending) and either MJ Akhmadaliev or Junto Nakatani.
Picasso is skilful, has previously fought through an injury and needs a good win and big performance to call out Inoue then wait for the phone to ring.
