Golden Boy’s Bernard Hopkins was as impressed with Jaime Munguia as anyone else after his performance last Saturday night.

Mexico’s Munguia dominated England’s John Ryder in their super middleweight matchup at Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona, en route to stopping the rugged southpaw in the ninth round.

Munguia, who dropped Ryder twice in the early rounds, scored two further knockdowns in the pivotal ninth round.

The result had Munguia partisans ecstatic, as it now increases the pressure for a highly coveted shodown with Canelo Alvarez, the undisputed champion in the 168-pound division. However, Alvarez is not promotionally aligned with Golden Boy, making it unlikely that matchup will materialize anytime soon. Alvarez was previously promoted by Golden Boy before they went through an acrimonious divorce. Moreover, Alvarez is in the midst of a multi-fight deal with rival outfit Premier Boxing Champions.

Hopkins, a top executive at Golden Boy, was thrilled by the way in which Munguia dispatched a solid contender as it evinced, to him, that Munguia had grown into the division. (Munguia first made his name in the sport as a titlist in the 154-pound division).  Alvarez, by contrast, went the distance with Ryder when they fought last May.

“I rate that he’s ready,” Hopkins said of Munguia in an interview with FightHubTV. “He’s more than ready. I seen poise, I seen patience, but I also seen someone who overcame some rounds where it was a give and take and he didn’t succumb to the relentlessness and toughness of his opponent. When you close the show in that type of fashion, you know as a fan or a boxing expert that this is another type of level, thinking, talent, and competition.

“Going forward, this is a statement—a statement of what? A statement that he’s ready for anyone at 168 pounds. You see the strength, the energy, and the persistence. He pressed when he need to press the issue and he stepped back to get a little better look at the adversary that he was facing. Again, I seen poise, I seen also execution and I seen someone who’s comfortable in that weight division.”

Sean Nam is the author of Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.