After dominating the light middleweight division for almost two years, Jaime Munguia is looking for another challenge. Munguia will be moving up to the more competitive middleweight division this Saturday when he makes his debut fight at the weight class against the exciting Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan. A partisan crowd will be cheering on Munguia at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, and you can catch the fight exclusively on DAZN.
This bout will headline a card on Saturday, January 11, 2020, and coverage will start at 7 p.m. ET with the main card scheduled to start at 9 p.m. ET. Munguia and O’Sullivan are expected to enter the ring at 11 p.m. ET to cap off the evening.
Here's a guide to everything you need to know about betting on the Jaime Munguia vs. Gary O’Sullivan fight, including updated odds, trends and our prediction.
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Jaime Munguia vs. Gary O’Sullivan odds
- Jaime Munguia: -1981
- Gary O’Sullivan: +1006
- Total rounds: 5.5
Munguia is a heavy favorite to win his first bout as a middleweight. He is nearly a 1 to 20 favorite per the boxing betting odds, and he is expected to be just the third fighter to knock out O’Sullivan. Oddsmakers are very skeptical this fight will go the distance with an over/under of 5.5 rounds.
The former WBO light middleweight champion is 23 years old, but he has plenty of experience for a boxer his age. Munguia turned pro at the age of 16, and he won the WBC Latino light middleweight title less than two years ago. He claimed the WBO light middleweight strap just three months later with a fourth-round TKO, and he defended the belt successfully five times before making the move up in weight. He is 34-0 ahead of this fight with 27 of those victories coming by knockout.
O’Sullivan is 30-3 with 21 knockout wins. He is 12 years older than Munguia, but he has taken part in less bouts as his career has followed a more traditional path. O’Sullivan claimed the WBO International middleweight title in July 2012, but he lost the strap to Billy Joe Saunders a year later. He claimed another minor belt when he dominated Antoine Douglas to win the WBO Intercontinental middleweight belt in December 2017, but he suffered a first-round knockout at the hands of David Lemieux in his last big fight in September 2018.
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An Irish boxer gave Munguia his toughest test
There is likely to be a little trepidation from Munguia’s corner as the only boxer to genuinely test him during his time as a light middleweight was Dennis Hogan. In a bout that Munguia was supposed to win easily, Hogan gave the champion all he could handle. They met in Monterrey, Mexico in April of last year, and Munguia did not look like himself in his lone title defense on home soil.
Most pundits believed that Hogan won the bout. Hogan landed the bigger blows and Munguia was constantly asking his corner whether he was ahead, but the judges gave the champion a majority decision. Munguia stated afterwards that he believed the fight was a draw, indicating that he felt he could have easily lost the fight. That might give him cause for pause against another Irish boxer in O’Sullivan.
More than a mustache
O’Sullivan is most known for his distinctive facial hair. When he first steps into the ring, he looks like a boxer from the previous century, but underestimate him at your peril. Although he has yet to win a major belt, he dismantled an up and comer that was supposed to easily get past him in Douglas two years ago, and he has formidable power.
In addition to dealing Douglas his first defeat, O’Sullivan recently knocked out another up and comer in Berlin Abreu, and he can upset Munguia if the younger boxer isn’t prepared mentally and physically.
What’s next?
Munguia’s camp wants to use this fight as a springboard to set up a major bout with one of the big names in the middleweight division. He had initially agreed to fight Gennady Golovkin in place of Canelo Alvarez before that was quashed by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, but a convincing Munguia victory could earn him a coveted bout with GGG, Alvarez, or Demetrius Andrade.