Dmitry Bivol revealed that he does not want to fight Jaime Munguía, but he would only do it to stay active, as his manager, Vadim Kornilov, spilled the beans about the ongoing negotiations with Munguía.
“Of course (Jaime Munguía) is not a big fight for me,” said Bivol during a recent appearance on the Big Fight Weekend podcast. “I don’t want to fight him, to be honest, because he’s not from my division. But if I had to choose between not fighting, and fighting Munguía, of course he would agree to fight Munguía. I think he is a very good fighter, but he is a different weight.”
Bivol acknowledges that Jaime Munguía’s record is weak as he has hardly fought anyone of importance at 160 pounds, he has never fought at 168 pounds, and he would have to move up to 175 to fight Bivol.
“It’s just that he’s a different weight,” the WBA Light Heavyweight champion went on, “and besides, who has he fought against? He fought Rosado, and who was better? He hasn’t done much, but he is a good fighter.”
Munguía- just another name on DAZN: Dmitry Bivol’s manager
Bivol’s manager, Vadim Kornilov, spoke in detail about how the negotiations are going and why he is negotiating with Munguía.
“There are still negotiations with Munguía,” confirmed Kornilov. “But when I mention Munguía, people laugh. There are people who think that Munguía is a good fight, that it has a name, but it is not our favorite option. It’s not like we said we want to fight Munguía. He’s just another name on DAZN who we can make a fight with.”
Kornilov explained that the main motivation for fighting Jaime Munguía is for Dmitry to stay active, even if it is not an attractive fight for him. The manager revealed in the same interview that he was negotiating with Artur Beterbiev to fight in June or July for a total unification of 175 pounds but no agreement was reached. That is why they are looking for another fight for those dates before September.
“Exactly, (people might laugh at us), but ask Dmitry what he thinks of Jaime Munguía,” Kornilov said. “He explained it a while ago, he prefers to attend to his personal and family life, and wait until September, because it is not an exciting option for him. It’s just to stay active. Does Dmitry really want to fight Munguía? Not really. Do the fans want to see Munguía against Bivol? Maybe some, but not all. In the end, it all comes down to business.”
Despite the fact that the option to fight Jaime Munguía is not entirely attractive, Kornilov revealed that they are doing everything possible to make it happen.
“On the Munguía issue, we are working extremely hard to get the fight done,” Kornilov said. “We are in communication every day. We had a meeting in Los Angeles to discuss this. Golden Boy and Matchroom are negotiating on Munguía while we are talking to you. Is it a fight that is already done? No. Is it going to materialize? Don’t know. Do we want to keep Dmitry active? Of course. He does not help him sit more than six months. But at the same time, if it doesn’t materialize, we wait until September for Beterbiev or Canelo.”
Vadim Kornilov insists that they would agree to fight Jaime Munguía just so that Bivol is active. The last time Bivol fought was on November 5, 2022 when he defeated Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramírez by unanimous decision. The Russian hasn’t fought in five months, and if he has to wait until September to get back in the ring, 10 months of inactivity will have passed.
“In the end, it all comes down to the fact that we don’t have a fight right now, and if a better opponent than Jaime Munguía doesn’t come out, we wait until September for Beterbiev or Canelo,” Kornilov said.
