The open secret is now official: Canelo Álvarez’s next rival will be his compatriot Jaime Munguía on May 4 in Las Vegas for the four super middleweight world championships held by the fighter from Guadalajara, who was the first to make the announcement on his social networks.
It will be Canelo’s first fight against another Mexican since his 2017 clash with Julio César Chávez Jr., which was disappointing.
Munguía, 27 years old -six younger than Álvarez-, has won his 43 professional lawsuitswith 34 knockouts, and is coming off two spectacular wins that raised his bonuses.
The Tijuana native, who was already super welterweight world champion, beat the Ukrainian Sergiy Derevyanchenko in June 2023 in a fight awarded as the best of the year.
Then, this January, Munguía beat up the British John Ryder with another tremendous performance to put himself among the possible candidates to receive the opportunity to face Canelo, the biggest star in boxing today. Canelo had failed to knock out Ryder himself several months earlier in Guadalajara.
Canelo’s maneuver after rejecting a fight with Jermall Charlo
Canelo Álvarez achieved his 60th victory as a professional in his most recent fight, but the duel with Jermell Charlo was lackluster despite it being a clash between two undisputed champions (in different divisions).
The redhead wanted to face the other Charlo twin, Jermall, this May, but due to the public’s obvious disinterest in that confrontation, there was a series of events: Canelo avoided committing to a fight with David Benavídez, left his three-fight agreement with Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) after having held only one and then made a maneuver to agree again with PBC and also with DAZN the duel with Munguía, a boxer considered much less dangerous than Benavídez.
The May 4 fight, which will take place at the T-Mobile arena, will be broadcast on both PBC partner Amazon’s Prime Video and DAZN. Besides, The event marks a reunion between Canelo and his former promoter Óscar de la Hoya, who promotes Munguía.
On Friday afternoon, Canelo also published a video on social media announcing the fight with Munguía. The super middleweight champion is seen in the snow, which means that he would already be at his campsite. Álvarez prepared in the mountains of Lake Tahoe for his previous fight and that helped him look better physically.
News in development.
Keep reading:
– Óscar de la Hoya says he doesn’t understand why Canelo doesn’t want to face David Benavídez
– CMB believes that a fight between Canelo and Benavídez can happen if economic conditions are met
– Edgar Berlanga’s coach is honest and says that the Puerto Rican is not yet ready for Canelo