Munguia Activates Rematch Clause After Surace Upset

Jaime Munguia’s promoters at Zanfer are planning to activate the rematch clause to force a second fight against Bruno Surace for the first half of 2025 following the super middleweight contender Jaime’s sixth-round knockout loss last Saturday night at the Estadio Caliente in Tijuana, Mexico.

Taking an immediate rematch with Surace is not without risk involved. While it may seem like a smart thing for Munguia’s promoters to do, it could backfire with him getting knocked out again. That would ruin his career.

Unconventional Clause

It’s unclear why Munguia’s promoters placed a rematch clause in the contract for a non-title fight that he was expected to win easily. The 26-year-old Surace isn’t ranked in the top 15 by any of the four sanctioning bodies. For a rematch clause to be included for this fight, it suggests that Jaime’s promoters weren’t entirely confident he would win. He was the A-side; they weren’t taking any chances.

The former WBO junior middleweight champion Munguia (44-2, 35 KOs) came into the fight as the favorite and controlled the action through the fifth round. In the sixth, Surace (26-0-2, 5 KOs) dropped Munguia, 28, with a right hand. The referee had no choice but to stop the fight when Munguia returned to his feet because he was in terrible shape.

“I’m told that Zanfer intends to activate the rematch clause for Jaime Munguía vs. Bruno Surace 2 in the first half of 2025 after the surprising result on Saturday in Tijuana. There will be details in this regard in the next few days,” said Salvador Rodriguez on X.

Risks Of Rematch

Again, if Munguia is knocked out again, his promoters’ decision to take a rematch with Surace could be disastrous. They must recognize the possibility of another loss and what it would do to his already shaky career.

Munguia is popular enough in Mexico, southern California, Arizona, and Texas to handle another KO loss to Surace. However, his punch resistance may deteriorate if Surace stops him again.

Assuming Munguia does get knocked out again by Surface, he can still count on getting fights against the likes of Caleb Plant, Edgar Berlanga, Diego Pacheco, and Christian Mbilli. In other words, Munguia can be a gatekeeper or trial horse for the younger fighters to get experience against a faded former world champion.