No one saw this coming – least of all Jaime Munguia.
Former junior middleweight champion Munguia was knocked out by France’s Bruno Soulache via a one-punch knockout in the sixth round on Saturday at the Caliente Stadium in his hometown of Tijuana, Mexico. beat.
Munguia, 44 wins and 2 losses (35 KOs), was undefeated just six months ago and was hopeful of writing his own Cinderella story before losing to Saul. The little-known Surace, 26-0-2 (5 KOs), will earn boxing consideration for his performance on the Knockout of the Year and Upset of the Year lists.
The ending comes suddenly and unexpectedly. The 28-year-old Munguia electrified his hometown crowd when he knocked Surace down with a left hook in the second round, seemingly signaling an early exit for Surace. The 26-year-old from Marseille’s previous most notable win came over the little-known 11-game veteran Jhon Jader Obregon. Soulache has not fought since.
So when he gets up and holds on until the end of the second quarter, there may be some surprises throughout Caliente Stadium.
But Tijuana hasn’t seen anything yet.
In the sixth, Soulache showed no clear signs of turning the tide, and the visiting opponent – who had never fought outside of France before – had his back against the ropes and Munguia landed a left over An uppercut, followed by a clawed fist – moving to his left, hoping to pry open Salas’ defense.
But as he looked at his work, Munguia opened his hands dangerously wide. Surace sensed his opportunity, thrust out a punch that seemed to block his opponent’s view, and immediately struck Munguia on the chin with a one-in-a-million right hand, causing Munguia to fall on his chin. He tried to stand up, but was ejected by the referee before he could recover – at 2:36 of the sixth period.
Surace has only five knockouts in his career and is considered a natural middleweight, which makes the result all the more shocking.
“I know he’s a good boxer. So we’re committed to fighting back,” Soulas said. “He’s a true warrior. I want to thank him for giving me this opportunity. It’s been a great experience for me.”
Suddenly, Munguia’s future looked incredibly murky, having fought 46 times and lost two of his last three, including a physical defeat to Alvarez. Since a rematch might be Surace’s most attractive next step, Munguia can count on that.
“Middleweight is my real weight class,” Salas said. “But we’ll see if [a rematch] May happen. “
Munguia should at least get a chance to prove whether he’s a shooter or just a victim of luck. But Saturday’s shock result means it’s now impossible to even speculate, and while Munguia’s status in the sport seemed high just a few hours ago, that may now be the case.
