WBO super-welterweight champion Jaime Munguia insists he will need to be wary when he fights Brandon Cook on the Canelo Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin undercard in Las Vegas on September 15.
“Brandon Cook is a really good opponent, a really strong opponent. He has a lot of experience and is strong and tough opposition. I need to be very careful with him because I’ve seen a couple of fights, and he looks when he’s hurt, he’s the most dangerous. I need to really focus on the fight and really be at my best on Saturday,” Munguia said.
Cook is adamant that he is a sterner puncher than the champion’s last challenger, Britain’s Liam Smith. “Growing up, any time I would hit somebody, they always drop. I’ve been in a ton of street fights. That’s what got me into boxing obviously. I know how much power I have. You don’t just develop power. You’re born with it and I was born with power,” Cook said. “I might not have been born with the best boxing skills but I’ve learned a lot over [the years]. I turned pro in 2011, I learned a lot about how to box now. I’ve just got to be smart, like I said, and throw my punches. I know how hard I hit, and if I can hit him square in the chin, like I did to [Steven] Butler or anybody else I hit, they are going to feel it. I think, no offence to Liam, but I think I hit harder than Liam Smith.”
“Jamie and me are going to give the people what they want to see. They are going to enjoy this fight and with we are going to get them wound up and ready to go for the main event. I know he can fight, and I can fight,” he continued. “This stylistic match going to be a great fight and it’s just going to open a lot of doors, whoever wins, obviously. He’s the next up-and-coming kid. He’s tough. He’s strong. He’s young. But I don’t care. I’m just coming to do what I got to do, and I can’t wait to get in there. I’m ready.”
Munguia thinks that Cook shouldn’t read too much into his last performance. “I learned a lot in the last fight. I learned not to get desperate, and in training camp, and what I trained in, and I’m basically with the mind-set to go in and do my job, and that’s it. There is nothing extra. There is no pressure, just do my job, what I do every day in the gym, and I always feel relaxed,” he said.
“This is nothing new for me. It’s a fight between me and Brandon and nothing else. The rest of the card, it’s different. I cannot have any control over what happens in the main event or the other cards. I just need to do exactly what I’m doing in training camp, and that’s it.”
