Munguía and Morales, a tandem in search of glory

WBA Press

When experience and youth come together they usually bring great results. That explosive combination is exactly what Jaime Munguía (36-0, 29KOs) is looking for with Erik “El Terrible” Morales in his corner, who will bring all his wisdom to a fighter who, despite having already won the WBO Super Welterweight world championship and successfully defended it five times, has a long way to go.

Morales is watching every move his pupil makes at the Otomi Ceremonial Center in Mexico, where they are preparing at more than 3,000 meters. While waiting for his next fight to be confirmed, Munguía takes advantage and absorbs everything he can from the legend and his entire team.

“The truth is that we are happy, we have learned quite a few things from him (Morales). He’s working hard, he’s got his act together again. Day by day we learn from him and from the whole team,” said the boxer.

That “drive” is a characteristic of the youth, although it is not always the best advisor. Morales knows this; when he fought a novice, Pablo César Cano, in 2011, it was the experience, among other things, which eventually gave him the victory. And that calm is exactly what he wants to transmit to his pupil.

“With Jaime it is a very peculiar issue, he is a boxer who likes to go forward throwing punches, he likes to go toe-to-toe. We want him not to give everything, to contain him, we want him to throw more specific punches to do damage and not so much volume”, said “El Terrible”.

Being in the ring is very different from just going up during the minute of rest, this is very clear to “El Terrible” and that is why he also has a strategy to give instructions: “I see him, I try to put myself in his shoes because he (Munguía) has a completely different style than mine and I try to see what he needs to do with his opponent, logically I give him the instructions and I feel comfortable. Sometimes I do think back and forth about what I have to do to make him understand what we need to work on”.

Besides “El Terrible”, Munguía has a great team to work with such as trainers Noé Álvarez Tostado, Fernando Fernández, his friend Gustavo Carrillo, nutritionist Marco Antonio Pérez and, of course, his father who, for the most part, has accompanied him practically since the beginning of his career, because he likes to maintain his circle of trust.

Munguía also has other rivals in his sights, like Gennady Golovkin, who he would like to fight: “I think it could be, maybe at the end of this year or at the beginning of the next one. That is not up to me, it depends on the promoter but we are ready”, said the fighter who also mentioned his desire to fight Ryota Murata, Middleweight champion of the World Boxing Association.

Munguía and Morales know that the challenges ahead are tough, but they are confident that together they are a perfect tandem to achieve glory and hope to prove it in their next fight.