Terence Crawford says undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez fought like he was “carrying” challenger Jaime Munguia on Saturday night in their fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Canelo (61-2-2, 39 KOs) knocked Munguia down in the fourth with an uppercut and cruised to a 12-round unanimous decision victory by the scores 117-111, 116-111, and 115-112.
That knockdown sent Munguia’s head to planet Neptune, taking the fight out of him, and draining his power. Canelo had his way from that point on.
Munguia fought well when he was throwing sustained combinations. In the third round, Munguia unleashed a nine-punch combination, connecting on at least five of the shots to the head of Canelo. If Munguia could have kept fighting like that, he would have won.
The problem that Munguia had is he couldn’t keep up the pace with his combination punching, and this allowed Canelo win rounds based on his harder shots. Munguia still out-landed Canelo in most rounds, but he wasn’t connecting with the same clean, head-jarring shots.
The Fight We’ll Never See
Crawford says he believes he would have a lot of opportunities to defeat Canelo if given the chance to fight him. That fight, unfortunately, won’t happen unless Crawford moves up to 168 and proves himself, which he has no interest in doing.
“Munguia showed his heart. He just wasn’t stepping in. Canelo just looked like he was carrying him, though,” said Terence Crawford to Fighthype, reacting to Canelo Alvarez’s win over Jaime Munguia on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
“Definitely. A lot,” said Crawford when asked what kind of opportunities he would see for himself if he were fighting Canelo in the future.
“Canelo did good. Munguia did good. It was a good fight,” said Crawford.
After the fight, Canelo wasn’t saying who he’ll face next, but it’s safe bet that he’ll defend against Edgar Berlanga in September. That’s an easy one for Canelo, and he’ll make a lot of money.
