Tonight’s live scores: Jaime Munguia vs. Bruno Surace

Jaime Munguia takes on France’s Bruno Surace tonight in the main event of a 10-round 169lb bantamweight fight live on ESPN+ at Estadio Caliente in Tijuana, Mexico. The event begins at 9:00 PM ET on ESPN+.

Munguia vs Surace Live Updates

– An undefeated competitor in the super bantamweight category Picasso from Alan (31-0-1, 16 KOs) outclassed his replacement opponent Yehison Cuell (13-3-1, 11 KOs) in the third round of the scheduled ten-round fight. Picasso, 24, landed a beautiful left to the body in the third round that dropped Colombian Cuello to the canvas. The referee then counted him.

The 5’8″ Picasso’s skills were on another level, landing lefts to the body in perfect form from the first round and ducking out of the way of Cuello’s powerful jabs. Cuello loaded everything.

When it would connect sometimes, there was a thump sound. He definitely had power. By the third round, Picasso was in complete control of the fight and it was only a matter of time before the knockout occurred.

With this victory, Picasso remains ready to fight against the undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue. He is one of the fighters in the running for Inoue’s title defense following his fight against Sam Goodman on January 24th.

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The 28-year-old Munguia (44-1, 28 KOs) is looking to quickly get a rematch with Canelo Alvarez after losing to him on May 4. Munguia has fought once since then, stopping eventual opponent Erik Bazinyan in the tenth round on September 20.

Tonight’s ESPN+ main card

– Jaime Munguia vs. Bruno Sarace
– Alan Picasso vs. Yehison Cuello

Picasso (30-1, 16 KOs) is expected to be the next challenger to undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue if he defeats Cuello (13-2-2, 11 KOs) tonight in their 10-round bout.

Munguia has an easy fight tonight against Surace (25-0-2, 4 KO). None of the four sanctioning bodies rank Surace in the top 15. The reason for this is obvious: Surace’s opposition was weak.

It is unclear why Top Rank chose this opponent for Munguia rather than a top level competitor. If the idea is to make Munguia look great and make sure no one beats him to ruin his chances of a rematch with Canelo, a rivalry with him against fighters like Surace and Bazinyan makes sense.

Ideally, Munguia should show some guts and go up against the top contenders at 168 to speed up the process of getting a rematch with Canelo, but he’s too vulnerable to do that. Munguia didn’t even look good in his last contest against Bazinyan.

If Munguia was ambitious and willing to take risks, he would fight these guys to earn a rematch with Alvarez:

– Osleys Iglesias
– Christian Mbilli
– Diego Pacheco
– The Caleb plant

Munguia is not expected to fight either of those fighters. It’s a job. His next fight will likely be against Edgar Berlanga, who he has said he is interested in fighting. Berlanga is on the same talent level as Bazinyan and an easy mark for Munguia or any other fighter on the roster.