Munguia vs Johnson predictions, picks, who wins the fight?

This Friday night streaming live on DAZN (Oct. 30, 8 pm ET), former 154-pound titleholder Jaime Munguia looks to continue his move up the ladder at 160, as he faces tough veteran Tureano Johnson in a 12-round Golden Boy main event from California.

Munguia (35-0, 28 KO) made the move up to middleweight in January of this year, beating Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan convincingly. Can Johnson (21-2-1, 15 KO) provide a stiffer test, or even pull the upset?

Our staffers make their picks for the Friday main event.

Scott Christ

I do think Munguia has a high likelihood of eventually getting what boxing fans will call “exposed” at 160, not that there’s anyone out there who thinks he’s some unbeatable, flawless fighter, but I don’t think Tureano Johnson is the guy to do it any more than Spike O’Sullivan was. Johnson is not a dramatically different fighter than O’Sullivan, and while he’s better than the trash-talking Irishman, he’s not so much better that I think it will make the difference compared to that fight.

It’s a favorable and frankly rather safe style matchup for Munguia, who is still trying to tweak his game and improve his craft with trainer Erik Morales. Morales has no high-level training experience so that whole experiment could wind up being a bust all in all, and also there’s probably only so much you can do with Munguia. He’s not going to radically alter his game or suddenly become more athletic or quicker than he just is. He’s a pretty straightforward fighter and is enjoyble to watch more often than not. That won’t get him past everyone, but I think it gets him past Johnson rather comfortably if he’s in shape and all that. Munguia UD-12

Wil Esco

Here we have a matchup of a guy who I think is pretty decent in Jaime Munguia against another guy I’ve never really been high on in Tureano Johnson. Johnson is a tough guy and all but nothing about his skill set particularly stands out as impressive to me, and his best win is probably over Jason Quigley. Munguia, conversely, at least has some talent and youth on his side, which I think should be enough to comfortably outpoint Johnson over the distance. If Munguia can shake Johnson up, he might go in for the kill, but I’ll just take Munguia to take the decision. Munguia UD-12

How to Watch Munguia vs Johnson

Date: Friday, Oct. 30 | Start Time: 8:00 pm ET
Location: Fantasy Springs, Indio, CA
Stream: DAZN
Live Online Coverage: BadLeftHook.com

Patrick L. Stumberg

While Johnson is unquestionably a step up in competition, I can’t help but see this as a favorable matchup for Munguia. Johnson isn’t going to frustrate him at range the way Dennis Hogan did; the Bahaman bruiser will meet him head-on, and I’m not sure six additional pounds are enough to make slugging it out with Munguia a favorable proposition. Johnson isn’t the hardest man to hit, either, so unless he has enough pop to make Munguia give ground and shell up under fire, he figures to get the worst of it when they trade heat.

I could be underestimating Johnson’s technical prowess and overestimating Munguia’s physicality at middleweight, especially since Johnson has had success walking down big hitters before, but Johnson’s approach just seems like the wrong way to go about it. Munguia’s superior firepower nets him a late stoppage in an entertaining affair. Munguia TKO-10

Lewis Watson

This should be a watchable fight, but one that plays into the hands of Munguia. I can’t imagine Johnson is going to offer the Mexican an awful lot to think about in terms of movement and elusiveness, rather walking forward into pocket and trying to land one after taking two from Munguia. Munguia will be eager to get Johnson out of there – which I believe he will – but will probably take a fair amount of damage en route. I can see a late stoppage with fairly lopsided scorecards. Munguia TKO-10

And the staff winner is...

Photo by Tom Hogan/Golden Boy/Getty Images

Jaime Munguia (4-0)!