Munguia-Ballard official for Apr. 23 on DAZN

Ballard steps in for the injured Maciej Sulecki on two weeks’ notice

Well, that didn’t take long either.

With original April 24th foe Maciej Sulecki unavailable due to injury, former WBO super middleweight champion Jaime Munguia is officially set to face unbeaten prospect D’Mitrius Ballard on Friday, April 23rd.

“Big Meech” (20-0-1, 13 KO) ends a nearly 16-month layoff dating back to a majority draw against Olympic bronze medalist Yamaguchi Falcao. The 28-year old out of Tampa Hills, Maryland spent much of his pro career at or around the super middleweight limit, officially dropping to 160 in a May 2019 no contest against Elias Espadas.

“I feel very fortunate and blessed to have the opportunity to fight against Jaime Munguia,” said D’Mitrius Ballard. “I feel extremely blessed especially because of the condition the world is now in with COVID-19 and all the issues we are facing. This is the perfect opportunity to really showcase who D’Mitirus Ballard is and demonstrate my boxing abilities. I’m going to use this fight to re-introduce myself to the world.”

Munguia (36-0, 29 KO) will be looking for his fourth consecutive finish since scoring a highly questionable decision over Dennis Hogan in April 2019. He’s 2-0 since capping off his super welterweight run with a beating of Patrick Allotey, stopping Spike O’Sullivan in 11 and uppercutting a chunk of Tureano Johnson’s lip clean off to abruptly end a six-round battle.

“These things happen in boxing, and I’ve always had the mentality that I have to be prepared for any opponent,” said Jaime Munguia. “I know that D’Mitrius Ballard is a great fighter with a lot of experience as an amateur and a professional, so I expect to deliver a great fight to get even closer to the world title opportunity.”