Vinny’s Views: Jamie Mungia Vs Brandon Cook – The Stats, The Facts and The Ringside Report Fight Prediction Is In!
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By Vinny “Glory Days” Lucci
Sometimes when you don’t look over your shoulder from time to time you don’t know what’s gaining on you. If you are a sport’s writer that can be a pleasant surprise; if you are a boxer it may just be the game changer that fashions hell and ends careers. Enter one Jamie Mungia. For five years he was relatively unknown outside his native Tijuana while he ran amok in Mexico enterprising the local talent with ten counts and canvas naps. In that short time span he quickly amassed a perfect ledger of 28-0, 24 KO’S before being ushered in the back door of a casino called Turning Leaf in Verona, New York. At stake was nothing less than the WBO Junior Middleweight title as the promoter looked to salvage the date with champion Sadam Ali after top available contender Liam Smith had to withdraw with skin ailments.
Some west coast writers in press row were akin to Mungia’s resume and gave the challenger a “puncher’s chance.” After all, unless you cover the sport South of the Border you wouldn’t recognize a single name on his dossier. What manifested inside the ring was nothing less than a brutal four round execution of the man who retired the mighty Miguel Cotto. To prove the three knockdowns of the bout were calling card announcement to WBA/IBF champion Jarrett Hurd and WBC champion Jamell Charlo; Mungia then gave once beaten Liam Smith first crack at his belt two months later winning a bruising twelve round unanimous decision. Now just 56 days later Mungia is defending his title for the second time against rugged Brandon Cook of Canada.
The Event:
On September 15th Golden Boy Promotions will bring the world the eagerly awaited rematch of Gennady Golovkin defending his Middleweight title against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. T-Mobile Arena in Vegas will host while HBO PPV will broadcast. Munguia will make his second defense of his WBO 154 pound title against Brandon Cook as the co-feature to main event, on top of televised card that also features power punching middleweight David Lemieux, 39-4, 33 KO’s facing Spike O’Sullivan, 28-2, 20 KO’s and opening with the return of former number one pound for pounder Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez, 46-2, 38 KO’s taking on Moises Fuentes, 25-5-1, 14 KO’s in a cross roads match.
The Stats:
The champion stands an even 6’ but appears taller due to an imposing unofficial reach of 74” while fighting from orthodox stance. Munguia hails from Tijuana Mexico and rapidly becoming a national icon walking in the shadow of Canelo Alvarez. With Oscar De La Hoya as his promoter this year it’s no accident of chance that he is being carefully and quickly promoted into the path of stardom much like the route Bob Arum of Top Rank did for De La Hoya’s career. Munguia is 30-0, 25 KO’s at just 21 years of age with admittedly lots of room for ring maturity which he is eager to fulfill.
The challenger Brandon Cook hails from Ontario Canada and has settled in Ajax. His moniker of “Bad Boy” emblazes the back of his robe as he has built a respectable record of 20-1, 13 KO’s in a seven year career. At 32 years of age he was poised to make his presence known on world stage last month against Kell Brook but bout was scrapped when the former champion injured an ankle in training. The card couldn’t be salvaged as Kell’s replacement Sam Eggington suffered an eye injury in training. Standing 5’9” with an orthodox wingspan of 69” Cook will be sacrificing height, reach, power and youth to the formidable champion who has amassed 9 more fights in two less years and now has experience on the world stage.
Last Fight:
Munguia just defended title on July 28 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino against former champion Liam Smith making the first defense of his newly won belt. Bout was feature bill on HBO card where once again Jamie made the most of being a showcased headliner on the network of stars having answered all questions about his maturity, chin, stamina and power winning a clear cut but hard fought UD. Smith was dropped once and made no excuses for loss exclaiming the virtues of his conqueror post-fight in ring.
In May Brandon turned back one Miguel Angel Suarez by third round knockout of a scheduled ten at Hersey Centre, Mississauga. Cook looked sharp in preparing for summer challenge of still formidable Brook.
Styles:
The champion is a stand up puncher with very under rated boxing skills. (Think John “The Beast” Mugabi) where he sets a wicked pace of come forward mayhem while seldom exerting himself in cutting off the ring while detonating grenades both upstairs and down with equal aplomb. In his first title defense Jamie demonstrated a higher ring acumen than before when faced with a truly durable opponent who wielded both power and skill.
The challenger is a well-balanced boxer who can perform most faucets of game with considerable professionalism but has not established a single outstanding feature to raise an eye brow giving credence he could pull off an upset nor has he beaten a foe of compatible substance. He maintains a high guard behind a stiff jab in textbook fashion but has been doing all his fighting in Canada.
What to look for fight night:
The champion is of a singular mind set who believes in his own aura of invincibility and will look to drive the challenger back on his heels at first bell. Cook does not fight well going backwards so the first round will be telling. If he stands his ground with false bravado he will be inhaling the full fury of Munguia’s power early. If he retreats he will be allowing the champion full extension on his power punches and must be able to counter inside the pocket or from angles on either side of the gate. Based on Brandon’s lone loss to Kanat Islam by ninth round TKO one year ago he is vulnerable to power shots from left hooks as well as right crosses and will quickly discover he has been overmatched this time around.
The Vinny Factor:
Some of the media has thrown some support behind Brandon being able to upset the apple cart. After all his entire rise through the journeyman of Ontario hadn’t been much different than Jamie’s run in Mexico, but upon closer look there is a stark difference in tools as Mungia turned pro as a kid of 16 and already accomplished a championship at 21.
Cook was quoted for prefight press conference. “If I can stand in middle of ring and back his ass up, we’re going to see how he’s going to feel. “ The key word here sport’s fans is “IF.”
He went on to say, “I’m going to have to take some good shots I’m sure, then hopefully take it to him.” Not to be smart ass ladies and gents but the key word in that sentence is “Hopefully.”
For a fighter known as “Bad Boy” he is either showing the champion too much respect or already has given in to fate beyond his control.
Fight Significance: “C.”
Had Cook met and beaten Kell Brook last month the importance of match up would have jumped considerably to a “B.” Ringside Report believes De La Hoya is too shrewd to go gunning after unifications with Jamell Charlo or Jarret Hurd just yet; and ditto for ex-champ Erislandy Lara. Before testing those waters Munguia should invite the afore mentioned Kell Brook or highly respected Austin Trout to next official game of tag.
Odds:
Vegas has made Munguia a clear cut favorite at -2500, to Cook +1000
Prediction:
Munguia by KO.
Stay tuned…
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