LAST weekend John Ryder put up a brave performance against Jaime Munguia but was ultimately outgunned and stopped in nine rounds.
It was impressive from Munguia to do to Ryder what Canelo Alvarez couldn’t against Ryder in his previous outing. Comparisons will naturally be drawn by Munguia’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya in an effort to promote him as a possible opponent for Canelo. But I think they have an uphill battle trying to push Munguia as a more attractive opponent, at least from a fans point of view, than David Benavidez or even Jermall Charlo and Terence Crawford.
Munguia did look very good, in my opinion, but he will need a few more dominant wins against top tier opposition to put himself somewhere near the front of the queue to face the Mexican superstar. For me, Benavidez is the match to make for Canelo next, but if he goes elsewhere Benavidez vs. Munguia could be made. That would prove to be a great fight to watch and the winner would have an undeniable claim as to being the true number one contender in the super-middleweight division.
Conor Benn returns this weekend in Las Vegas against American Peter Dobson. It’s Benn’s second bout since the fiasco and cancellation of his fight against Chris Eubank Jr.
Publicly we are yet to see any real proof of his innocence regarding his failed drug tests in the lead up to the aforementioned bout. Being cleared to fight by UKAD is not the same as being cleared of any wrongdoing. Benn himself and perhaps the closest members of his team are the only ones who know the truth of the situation but from the outside all we have is two failed tests, a barrage of excuses, and a general sense of confusion surrounding the situation.
In the ring Benn shouldn’t have too much trouble this weekend. Although unbeaten in 16 fights Dobson doesn’t have any wins on his record to suggest an upset in the making. And afterwards Benn may have to field questions that have been following him for the past year and a half.
Back in the UK we have the rescheduled Joshua Buatsi vs. Dan Azeez light-heavyweight fight on Saturday.
This promises to be a very intriguing contest. I think Buatsi will just edge it but it’s a tough one to call. The winner will be looking for a world title shot in the not-too-distant future, however the belts may be tied up for a while if we get the undisputed matchup between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
In the meantime, the light-heavyweight division in Britain is very strong and it would be great if we got to see the matches we have yet to see featuring the likes of Buatsi, Azeez, Callum Smith, Anthony Yarde, and Lyndon Arthur.
My old European super-lightweight title is also on the line this weekend as champion Adam Azim defends against Enock Poulsen on the Buatsi-Azeez undercard.
I expect Poulsen to be Azim’s toughest test to date but with the form Azim has shown of late, especially in his title-winning effort, I believe he will successfully defend his title and maybe even secure a late stoppage. I’d like to see Boxxer then randomly pick his next defence to be against whoever was holding the EBU title on this date five years ago!
