Canelo Alvarez and Jaime Munguia are close to an agreement for May 4th in Las Vegas. This would be a big fight on Cinco de Mayo, likely on DAZN PPV.
Salvador Rodriguez is reporting the news of the Canelo vs. Munguia fight being close to having a deal done. Canelo (60-2-2, 39 KOs) will have four super middleweight titles against #1 WBO Munguia (43-0, 34 KOs).
Munguia: A Solid But Uninspiring Choice
Aside from David Benavidez, the Golden Boy-promoted Munguia is the biggest name available for Canelo, so it makes sense that he’s choosing him for his May 4th fight date.
Canelo-Munguia should bring in respectable buy totals on DAZN PPV. Still, it’s not a must-see fight that will bring in massive numbers like the Benavidez clash or Canelo’s fights in the past against Gennadiy Golovkin. The problem with Munguia is he’s not fought the big names to increase his popularity with mainstream U.S. fans.
Hardcore boxing fans know of Munguia as a fighter that has been spoonfed lesser oppoisition his entire 11-year career, whereas casuals don’t know who he is and won’t be excited that Canelo is fighting him.
Negative Fan Reaction
The reaction on social media to the news of Canelo-Munguia being close to an agreement is mostly negative from fans, who wanted to see David Benavidez be the one that Canelo faces on May 4th. That fight can’t happen due to Benavidez’s
Edgar Berlanga had previously been mentioned as the guy that Canelo wanted to fight on May 4th after the Mexican star left PBC. However, DAZN wanted Munguia to be Canelo’s opponent, which makes sense because fans have little interest in seeing Berlanga as the opponent.
If DAZN is hoping Canelo-Munguia will be a monstrous success on PPV, they could be disappointed because that’s a John Ryder-level fight for many Americans.
If Munguia had proven himself against David Morrell or Benavidez, it would be a bigger fight for Canelo, but there’s no chance that he would face either of those guys. There’s a lot of Berlanga in the way Munguia has been matched during his 11-year career.
Promoter Eddie Hearn won’t be happy seeing his fighter, Berlanga, miss out on the Canelo fight on May 4th, but he’ll be confident he’ll get selected for September.
The Benavidez Barrier
Recently, Canelo had reportedly hoped to fight Jermall Charlo on this date, but he couldn’t reach a deal with PBC, who wanted him to agree to a match against David Benavidez for September to give him his $35 million guaranteed purse.
Canelo wasn’t going to agree to that deal, considering Benavidez wasn’t one of the three names he’d originally agreed to when he signed his three-fight deal with PBC.
At this point, Jermall is no longer in the loop to fight Canelo at all, period, not in May or September. His inactivity, and lackluster performance in his recent comeback against Jose Benavidez Jr. and his twin, Jermell Charlo’s lost to Canelo last September to blame for him not being considered for the May 4th date.