Munguia vs O’Sullivan- Saturday night on DAZN Jaime Munguia kicks off his 2020 campaign by squaring off with Spike O’Sullivan at his new 160lb weight. Style wise, I expect some fireworks from these two. Both guys are punchers, neither have really great defensive instincts, and they are both offense first defense third kind of fighters. After bursting onto the scene with a dominant K.O. over Sadam Ali, Munguia had a varied series of outings in 2019. Most notably was a majority decision win over Denis Hogan that easily could’ve been a draw or gone the other way. While still young I believe this is something of a crossroads fight for him. He has moved up into a very competitive weight class and is taking on an interesting gate keeper in O’Sullivan. Spike is no stranger to being the B side in big fights and also has been in there with a supposed prospect before on a night where he broke down and brutally KOed the once touted Antoine Douglas. He is however a fighter that has always fallen short of winning a big fight, losing to Billy Joe Saunders, Chris Eubank and a one starching at the hook of David Lemieux. Tomorrow night I figure to be another one of these losses at the hands of an unproven but powerful prospect. I think that youth is going to serve Munguia well here and he will break down and stop O’Sullivan in the 7th round. Expect a real shootout with both guys taking and giving big shots it will be a fun fight while it lasts! Pick: Munguia TKO 7
Hart vs Smith – Also on Saturday night Jesse Hart takes on Joe Smith on ESPN in a pivotal light heavyweight bout. This is a must win fight for both guys and the victor can expect a big fight later this year in the loaded light heavyweight division, possibly for the belt recently vacated by Canelo. Style wise I favor the more technically sound Hart against the puncher Smith. Hart can box well on the outside he is very active, moves well, and sticks a sharp jab. HOWEVER I think it will be Smith that prevails in this fight and here is why- While Hart is the technically superior fighter tomorrow night he tends to not fight that way and he gets hit a lot with big shots as he has shown in both of his fights with Gilberto Ramirez. Smith has one punch power and it’s a reasonable thought that over the course of the 10 round fight he will find an opportunity to connect and capitalize. If and when this happens I think he will be able to get Hart out of there and shock the boxing world again with another KO. While I’m typing this I’m also thinking it could turn into a chess match with Hart staying on the outside and Smith attempting to solve the riddle of closing the distance over the distance of the fight, but, I am sticking with my instincts and taking Smith to win by a late KO. Pick: Smith KO 8
