Munguia-Szeremeta face off in El Paso ahead of Saturday’s Middleweight bout

EL PASO, Texas - It had hype, hardware, and high fashion.

Headlined by Jaime Munguia and Kamil Szeremeta, fighters faced off Thursday at El Paso's Paso Del Norte hotel in advance of Saturday's main card presented by Golden Boy Boxing.

Munguia, coming in at 36-0 (29 KO), is knocking on the door of the the world’s best middleweight fighters. But in his way stands Szeremeta (21-1, 5 KO), a Polish challenger who has fought for middleweight titles prior.

"His jump is to the front where he's really strong," said Munguia in his native Spanish of his game plan.

"I'm going to look for the area with the shortest space. We're going to maintain our distance and hit him in the middle."

The fight is part of an attempt to prioritize boxing in El Paso by Golden Boy Boxing, a partner of former world champion Oscar De La Hoya.

De La Hoya's win over Patrick Charpentier in 1998 at the Sun Bowl still holds weight in the boxing community.

“Back when Oscar fought here in 1998, a little piece of his heart of his heart stayed here in El Paso," said Golden Boy President Eric Gomez.

"The fans here in El Paso they really truly appreciate Championship boxing. I don’t know if it has something to do with being right next door to Juarez or it’s in the water but the fans are great here."

"We love El Paso and we’re committed to El Paso and we want to keep coming back here as much as we can.”

El Paso has seen one world seen champion come to town, and in Munguia, there could be another when its all set and done.

"I want to tell everyone thank you for their support.," added Munguia. "And tell everyone that they can expect a great fight on Saturday the 19th.”

Saturday's card can be streamed live on DAZN network, with tickets still available for purchase at the Don Haskins Center box office and Ticketmaster.