Jaime Munguia Ring Return Scheduled For June 19 At Don Haskins Center; Opponent TBD

Jaime Munguia once again has a calendar date and location for his next fight.

Now all that he needs is a confirmed opponent.

The former junior middleweight titlist and current middleweight contender will return to the ring June 19 live on DAZN, Golden Boy Promotions confirmed on Thursday. The news comes one day after Tijuana’s Munguia (36-0, 29KOs) saw his April 23 date fall through after losing two opponents to injury in the span of just over a week.

Golden Boy is still finalizing the opponent for the new date, which will still take place at Don Haskins Center on the campus of The University of Texas-El Paso (UTEP). Munguia was previously due to face D’Mitrius Ballard (20-0-1, 13KOs), who was forced to withdraw due to an elbow injury suffered late in training camp.

Ballard was a replacement for Poland’s Maciej Sulecki, who reportedly suffered an injury shortly after his fight with Munguia was announced.

Golden Boy did not respond to an inquiry from BoxingScene.com seeking comment on whether Ballard will keep the assignment, if Sulecki is back in the mix or if another opponent will land the fight.

The bulk of the undercard will move with the rescheduled date. Included among the supporting bouts is a flyweight title fight between two-division and reigning WBC flyweight titlist Ibeth Zamora and 2012 Olympic Bronze medalist Marlen Esparza (9-1, 1KO).

Montreal’s Arslanbek ‘The Lion’ Makhmudov (11-0, 11KOs) is also expected to retain his place as chief support. The unbeaten heavyweight knockout artist was due to make his U.S. debut on the April 23 show versus Dominican Republic’s Nagy Aguilera (21-10, 14KOs).

Munguia aims to pick up his third win at middleweight following an active WBO junior middleweight title reign. In his most recent start, Munguia scored a 7th round stoppage of 2008 Bahamian Olympian and veteran contender Tureano Johnson last October in Indio, California. The win came seven months after making his middleweight debut in an 11th round stoppage of Ireland’s Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan last January in San Antonio.

The June 19 date will mark Munguia’s third career fight in Texas. Munguia made his Lone Star State debut in Jan. 2019, outpointing unbeaten Takeshi Inoue in the third defense of his WBO junior middleweight title at Toyota Center in Houston.   

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox