Keith Thurman vs Josesito Lopez

The FOX card Main event is Keith “ One Time” Thurman VS Josesito “ The Riverside Rocky” Lopez.  Keith Thurman makes his long-awaited return to the ring against veteran welterweight Josesito Lopez.

Fight Info
12 rounds, Welterweight (147 lbs), WBA Welterweight Title
Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York
Jan 26, 2019, 5:00 pm, FOX

Tale of the Tape

With Josesito Lopez, you have a nearly 16-year veteran that is coming off a three-fight win streak. Now, to be honest, the fighters that Josesito Lopez beat in his last three are not big names and were not ranked anywhere near the top ten at the time that Lopez beat them. Even though Josesito’s recent opponents were nothing to write home about, that has not been the case his entire career. He has faced the likes of Andre Berto, Marcos Maidana, Canelo Alvarez, Victor Ortiz, and Jessie Vargas. Unfortunately for Lopez, he came up short against all of them except Victor Ortiz. So maybe you are, and maybe you are not impressed with Josesito’s career, but he has championship fight experience and is a fair tune-up fight for a Keith Thurman that is coming off a 22-month layoff.

Now when it Comes to Keith Thurman there are many questions circling all over social media, boxing YouTube Channels, boxing podcasts, and well all over the internet. Some people believe Thurman has been faking or exaggerating his injuries the last two years to avoid Errol Spence Jr. Some have been wondering if he still has the hunger to keep competing at a championship level after back to back tough fights against Shawn Porter, and Danny Garcia. Some of us have simply just been waiting for him to come back from his injuries to see if he’s back at an elite level, and can jump back in the mix at the top of a stacked welterweight division.  I for one am going to take Keith at his word, and consider the injuries to be legit. 

Even though I believe Keith, that does not mean that I had not grown tired of waiting to see if or when Keith was coming back. Now that he’s back I just hope that he really is healthy, and can make it out of the fight relatively healthy, and start to look somewhat like his old self.  I do expect Keith to look rusty coming off the layoff, but even with the rust he still should win by unanimous decision, if he can not get the knockout. If Keith handles things like I expect he will, he should be looking to unify the welterweight division soon after. The Welterweight division is considered to be one of the most stacked divisions in all of boxing, and if we can get a healthy, and elite Keith Thurman back in the mix we all win as boxing fans.

Jaime Munguia vs Takeshi Inoue

The DAZN main event features up-and-coming welterweight Jaime Munguia against undefeated martial artist Takeshi Inoue.

Fight Info
12 rounds, Jr. Middleweight (154 lbs), WBO Jr. Middleweight Title
Toyota Center, Houston, Texas
Jan 26, 2019, 6:00 pm, DAZN

Tale of the Tape

On the DAZN Card, the main event is Jaime Munguia vs Takeshi Inoue.  Jaime Munguia came seemingly out of nowhere May of last year, after upsetting Sadam Ali for the WBO Super Welterweight title.  Since then, Munguia fought another two times in 2018 bringing his fight total to five fights in 2018.  It looks like the plan is the same in 2019 for Jaime, and he’s starting things off with a title defense against 13-0 Japanese prospect Takeshi Inoue.  Inoue has 7 Kos in his 13 victories, compared to 26 for Munguia in 31 fights. This is also Inoue’s first fight in America, and Jaime has fought in America in his last three fights.  This fight is set up for Jaime to look good against an undefeated prospect, and continue to impress.  If you look at the faceoff pictures you can notice the huge size difference between Munguia and Inoue.  I can’t see this fight going the distance, and I predict Jaime will finish Inoue within seven rounds.

After this fight (if Jaime wins of course), I think Munguia should try to unify with other champs at 154 before moving up to 160 lbs where he seems to be heading sooner rather than later.  Jaime is only 22 years old, and I don’t think he should be rushed to move up as long as he can make 154 lbs.  I know I’m hoping he sticks around at 154 but the opportunity for huge paydays at 160 against Jermall Charlo, GGG, and of course the cash cow in Canelo Alvarez might just be too much for Jaime and his team to pass up.  Jaime seems to have a bright future ahead of him, but for now he needs to stay focused and just worry about beating Inoue this Saturday.

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Full Fight Schedule

Tugstsogt Nyambayar vs. Claudio Marrero
10 rounds – Featherweight

Adam Kownacki (No. 9) vs. Gerald Washington
10 rounds – Heavyweight

Keith Thurman (No. 3) vs. Josesito Lopez
12 rounds – WBA Welterwight Title

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Vergil Ortiz vs. Jesus Barrayan
10 rounds – Jr. Welterweight

Alberto Melian vs. Edgar Ortega
10 rounds – Jr. Featherweight

Jesus Rojas vs. Can Xu
12 rounds – Featherweight

Jaime Munguia (No. 3) vs. Takeshi Inoue
12 rounds – WBO Jr. Middleweight

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Note: Numbers next to the boxer is associated with their placement on Ring.com division rankings.

Erick Garcia is a podcaster and boxing junkie. He has been covering the boxing since 2016 for the30minutelunchbreak.com. You can view all of his posts and articles, and follow him on Twitter.