Canelo Alvarez is calling his match against Jaime Munguia his “dream fight” because it’s a big one for Mexico.
In Canelo’s home country, they love his fight against unbeaten Munguia (43-0, 34 KOs), but in the United States, it’s a regular match-up, a step down from his previous title defense against Jermell Charlo and below Caleb Plant.
American fans want to see Canelo fight David Benavidez, not Munguia, and they definitely don’t like the idea of paying $89.99 to see a secondary fight. With a price tag like that, who could blame them for balking?
U.S fans would like this fight a little more if the organizers dropped the price to a more wallet-friendly $60. If it had a great undercard, pricing it in the mid-70s would be fine, but it doesn’t.
The co-feature bout is WBC interim welterweight champion Mario Barrios defending against non-contender Fabian Maidana. Barrios is a decent welterweight, but he should be defending against a contender. Maidana isn’t ranked in the top 15, and most Americans have never seen him fight before.
Undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo (60-2-2, 39 KOs) defends against Munguia this Saturday, May 4th on Cinco de Mayo at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. It’ll be shown on Amazon Prime Video PPV and DAZN PPV.
Canelo’s Prediction
“I think I’m going to finish him within eight rounds, but it’s going to be a good fight,” said Canelo Alvarez to ESPN about his prediction for Saturday night against Jaime Munguia. “This fight is my dream fight. It’s big for Mexico.”
If Canelo is serious, it’s a signal that he’s not planning on fighting anyone risky before he hangs up his gloves. This can’t be as good as it gets for Canelo because this is too lackluster.
“He can win this fight. He’s definitely the underdog and I’m not saying he’s going to,” said Chris Algieri to the Probox TV YouTube channel about Munguia having a shot of upsetting Canelo.
“For Canelo to win the fight, I think he’s going to have to go for it. It’s not going to be handed to him like the Charlo fight,” said Paulie Malignaggi. “The Charlo fight, he just had to show up. The guy had given it to him already.
“The Golovkin third fight, Golvokin was already 40 years old and spent. If Canelo is going to win this fight [Munguia], Canelo is going to have to show something. I think he’s going to win the fight.
“I think it’s a year too soon, but I think Munguia is going to bring enough to the table to show Canelo that he has still something in the tank.”
