Sunday, May 18, 2008

Mijares Solves Muñoz! Plus, Baseless Speculation about His Future

Cristian Mijares walked away with the WBC and WBA 115-pound belts on Saturday night after a split decision victory over Alexander Muñoz. Maxboxing's Cliff Rold called it a masterpiece. I didn't see it, but I expect it was, as Mijares is about as good a technician as there is in boxing. The only real challenge left at 115 is Fernando Montiel, who holds the WBO strap.

Assuming that fight can be made and Mijares wins (which is no easy task, but I'd bet on him), where does he go? He relies more on movement than punching and he has good size, so he could probably find some success as well as some big fights moving up. At 118, Gerry Penalosa and rising star Abner Mares stand out, though with just 16 fights Mares is probably too green for Mijares. Both the risk and the payoff would be even greater at 122, where Mijares could face off against countrymen Daniel Ponce de Leon, Rafa Márquez, Israel Vázquez, and Jhonny González. Those guys are all big punchers and each one would represent a huge challenge, but as I noted, Mijares isn't a puncher, so it's not like he would be trading with any of the four. I think he would spin Ponce de Leon in circles in the archetypal matchup of master boxer vs. huge puncher. It's possible that Márquez, Vázquez, and González won't have a lot left in the tank by the time Mijares would be ready for them, but they would be big promotions and about the only chance Mijares has to increase his popularity beyond the admiration of boxing nerds.

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