Canelo Alvarez has selected Jaime Munguia to defend his undisputed super middleweight championship on May 4th in Las Vegas on DAZN. Alvarez parted ways with PBC and is returning to Matchroom for this fight against the unbeaten #1 WBO Munguia (43-0, 34 KOs).
It’s not the fight that most boxing fans wanted from Canelo, but at least it’s not Edgar Berlanga. Fans wanted Canelo to fight David Benavidez, but too many obstacles prevented it from happening.
Hearn’s Influence?
It’s unclear if promoter Eddie Hearn had anything to do with Canelo switching gears and choosing to fight with the 27-year-old Munguia, as he previously said he wanted to fight an American fighter for his May 4th date. Munguia is from Mexico.
Canelo’s move to select Munguia as his opponent might make his former promoters at PBC unhappy, as that was the guy that they wanted him to fight on May 4th. He reportedly didn’t want to fight Munguia for that date. But now that Canelo has split with PBC and has returned to Match, he’s shifted gears and is fighting Munguia.
Of the two options that Hearn had for Canelo to fight on May 4th, Munguia is the far better one, as there was very little interest from U.S. boxing fans in seeing the Mexican star face Edgar Berlanga next. Fighting him would have created a huge backlash, resulting in poor PPV buys for his fight on DAZN on that date.
Munguia has been ramping up for a fight against Canelo for many years and recently strengthened his position to acquire the fight by defeating John Ryder by a ninth-round knockout last January and Sergiy Derevyanchenko by a 12-round unanimous decision last June.
Official Announcement Coming Soon
“Canelo Álvarez will present his undisputed Super Middleweight championship against fellow Mexican Jaime Munguía on May 4th,” says ESPN Knockout.
“In the coming days, the completion of the fight is expected to be able to make an official announcement about the duel between Mexicans for the [IBF, WBA, WBC & WBO] Super middleweight titles held by Canelo Álvarez.”
It would be a bigger fight if Munguia had proven himself against talented super middleweight like David Morrell Jr. and David Benavidez. However, Munguia’s promoters at Golden Boy and Zanfer Promotions would likely have never matched him against either of those guys, considering he’s not that kind of a talent. Mungiuia is a B-level guy.