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Sergiy Derevyanchenko definitely wants an opportunity to avenge his close loss to Jaime Munguia in their memorable battle 7½ months ago.
The Ukrainian veteran’s manager, Keith Connolly, informed BoxingScene.com that he intends to revisit that fight with Munguia’s representatives at Golden Boy Promotions if the unbeaten Mexican contender doesn’t secure an opportunity to challenge Canelo Alvarez on May 4. Tijuana’s Munguia (42-0, 33 KOs) will be considered as a potential opponent for Guadalajara’s Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KOs) if he gets past English southpaw John Ryder (32-6, 18 KOs) in their 12-round, non-title fight Saturday night at Footprint Center in Phoenix (DAZN; 8 p.m. ET; 5 p.m. PT).
“We had some initial conversations about a rematch between Sergiy and Munguia,” Connolly told BoxingScene.com. “They went in another direction and he wound up fighting John Ryder. We have had some talks that if the Canelo fight falls through that we could possibly do the rematch sometime this year.”
Fans would welcome Munguia-Derevyanchenko II because their first fight was an action-packed slugfest that Munguia won only because he dropped Derevyanchenko with a body blow with 59 seconds to go in the 12th round. Had Munguia not sent Derevyanchenko to the canvas in the final round, their fantastic, back-and-forth fight would’ve resulted in a majority draw June 10 at Toyota Center in Ontario, California.
That knockdown enabled Munguia to edge Derevyanchenko (14-5, 10 KOs) by one point apiece on the scorecards of judges Rudy Barragan and Fernando Villarreal, both of whom scored it 114-113. Judge Lou Moret gave Munguia a little more credit on his card, 115-112.
Connolly believes Derevyanchenko did enough to win that DAZN main event. Regardless, he knows the narrow nature of Munguia’s win and the entertainment they delivered warrants a rematch.
“Everybody had Sergiy-Munguia as the ‘Fight of the Year,’ ” said Connolly, who expects Munguia to defeat Ryder. “It’s a can’t-miss rematch. I don’t know any person out there that wouldn’t wanna see the rematch. Obviously, it’s understandable if Munguia gets the Canelo fight to go in that direction for May. But if that somehow doesn’t materialize for him, I think it’s a no-brainer that he does the rematch with Sergiy.”
Brooklyn’s Derevyanchenko, 38, was scheduled to return to the ring on the Vergil Ortiz Jr.-Fredrick Lawson undercard January 6 at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.
His original opponent, D’Mitrius Ballard (21-2-1, 13 KOs, 1 NC), withdrew from their 10-round super middleweight match due to an undisclosed injury. Derevyanchenko later sustained a rib injury while training that forced him to push back his next fight at least a couple of months.
Munguia, meanwhile, is listed by most sportsbooks as more than a 3-1 favorite to defeat Ryder.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.