Undisputed super middleweight champions Canelo Alvarez and Jaime Munguia are official for May 4th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Although the fight has been talked about for weeks happening next, it’s now official that they’ll be meeting on Cinco de Mayo in Vegas.
Choosing Las Vegas is not the ideal location for this fight, as it should be staged in Mexico. The Mexican fans, not the Americans, are eager to see Canelo fight Munguia.
They want to see Canelo fight David Benavidez. It’s unclear whether Canelo-Munguia will sell out the T-Mobile Arena because there’s zero demand for that match-up in the States.
Instead of fighting John Ryder and Jermell Charlo last year, Canelo should have used Munguia to replace one of those guys and then faced Benavidez on May 4th, 2024.
The fight between Canelo and Munguia is expected to be shown on Amazon Prime PPV with PBC. It’s believed that Canelo attempted to negotiate a two-fight deal with DAZN for him to fight Munguia and Edgar Berlanga, but they wouldn’t bite on it.
Berlanga might have been a sticking point because fans are even less interested in seeing that fight than Munguia.
Canelo (60-2-2, 39 KOs) will defend his IBF, WBA, WBC, and WBO 168-lb titles against Munguia (43-0, 34 KOs) in a twelve-round fight.
Canelo Looks to Extend Reign
Using Munguia as Canelo’s next opponent increases his chances of extending his three-year reign as the undisputed super middleweight champion, which he captured in 2021.
However, it does nothing to ease the pressure that he has on him to face David Benavidez, the fighter that the boxing public wants to see him fight.
While choosing the unbeaten #1 WBO contender Munguia may please Canelo’s Mexican fans back home in Mexico, U.S. fans are not satisfied with this choice, as they don’t rate him highly.
Instead of Canelo fighting Munguia, he should have chosen Benavidez, and if not him, David Morrell Jr., Dmitry Bivol, or Artur Beterbiev should have been his choice. Those are the only ones that would temporarily get the fans off Canelo’s back.
Munguia Aims to Upset the King
The way Munguia looked in his last two fights against Ryder and Sergiy Derevyanchenko, he’s not much of a threat to ending Canelo’s reign as the super middleweight king unless he got old since last September.
Munguia has good power and hand speed, and he’s improved in the last couple of years, but he’s still not on the level of Canelo. However, if Munguia does defeat Canelo, it would set up a big-money rematch, which could lead to other big fights like a Benavidez match-up if he dares to go in that direction, which is doubtful. Munguia can become a star in Mexico but not in the U.S. for beating Canelo.
To become a star, Munguia would need to beat Canelo twice and then defeat Benavidez, which is not realstic.
🇲🇽🤝🏼🇲🇽@Canelo vs @jaimemunguia15 pic.twitter.com/emWaDgPj59
— Salvador Rodriguez (@ChavaESPN) March 9, 2024