Jorge Michael Muñoz (born 3 May 1981), more commonly known as Michi Muñoz, is a Mexican-born American professional boxer. Munoz is the former NABC

light middleweight Light middleweight, also known as junior middleweight or super welterweight,PeBoxRec/ref> is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing The light middleweight division (also known as junior middleweight in the IBF or super welterweight in the WBA an ...

champion and has been described as one of the hottest prospects to ever come from the Midwest of America.

Background

Munoz was born in

León, Guanajuato () , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Political divisions of Mexico, State , subdivision_name1 = , establishe ...

, Mexico although grew up in

Topeka, Kansas Topeka ( ; Kansa language, Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the Capital (political), capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the County seat, seat of Shawnee County, Kansas, Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the ...

, United States. He is one of three boxing brother along with Raul and Alex.

Career

Munoz boxed as an

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

prior to taking a long break from boxing before moving to the professional ranks. Munoz stated "I came back, and I feel more mature, and I feel like my body's more mature.". Munoz turned professional in June 2004, winning his first fight at Union Station, Kansas City, Missouri, in which Munoz beat American fighter Lance Moody on the undercard of the Jesse Sanders v

Donny McCrary Donny McCrary (born October 15, 1982 in St. Joseph, Missouri) is an Irish-American professional boxer. Professional career Known as "The Savage", McCrary began his professional career in 2003, and has lost to contenders Lucian Bute, Kofi Jantuah, ...

fight.

NABC light middleweight title

Munoz won all of his first 14 fights, 11 inside the distance, before he fought for his first

title belt A championship belt is a large, extravagantly designed belt used primarily in combat sports such as boxing, mixed martial arts, and professional wrestling to signify the champions of the promotion or company, much like a cup or trophy in other s ...

against Joshua Smith. They faced each other for the vacant NABC

title in August 2006. Right-handed Munoz injured his right in the early rounds of the fight and had to fight the remainder of the bout using only his left. Despite this setback Munoz took the title belt by a unanimous decision of 80-72 margin on all of the judge's score cards.

Joey Gilbert fight

Following another two victories Munoz then faced Joey Gilbert, the star of the original series of reality TV boxing show The Contender, for the WBO North American Boxing Organization middleweight championship at

Lake Tahoe Lake Tahoe (; was, Dáʔaw, meaning "the lake") is a Fresh water, freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada of the United States. Lying at , it straddles the state line between California and Nevada, west of Carson City, Nevad ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

. Gilbert was originally scheduled to face

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

's Robert Dula who pulled out due to a shoulder injury. Although the fight was to take place at an altitude of 6000 feet at the MontBleu Resort & Casino Munoz still took the fight with just 8 days' notice. Munoz was the sharper and more aggressive fighter in the early round before showing signs of breathing difficulty as a result of the high altitude. Munoz still pushed the champion Gilbert the full 12 rounds finally losing the fight on points. After the fight Gilbert stated the Munoz was ''"one of the best fighters I've ever faced"''.

John Duddy fight

Munoz returned to the ring the following month to defeat

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

fighter Aundalen Sloan and quickly added another two victories to his record in 2007. Munoz then fought Irish boxer

John Duddy John Francis Duddy (born 19 June 1979) is an Irish actor and former professional boxer who fought from 2003 to 2010. He challenged once for the vacant WBC Silver middleweight title, losing in his final fight to Julio César Chávez Jr.

at the

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on October 10, 2009. Duddy won the fight via unanimous decision. Munoz was outpointed easily by Duddy and also lost his next 2 fights to Noe Gonzalez Alcoba, and veteran Bronco Mckart....both losses were by KO Munoz then fought Mike McGuire who had a record of 6 wins and 28 losses with one draw, and Munoz won via KO in the 2nd round. Munoz has not fought since then and has taken almost a year off as of today

References

External links

*
MySpace page for Michie Munoz
{{DEFAULTSORT:Munoz, Michi 1981 births Living people Middleweight boxers Boxers from Guanajuato Mexican male boxers Boxers from Kansas Sportspeople from Topeka, Kansas Light-middleweight boxers Sportspeople from León, Guanajuato