“It looks real easy, but it’s not. Better yet, I made it look easy” -Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez
We are ten days away from the undisputed super middleweight bout between the champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KOs) and Jaime Munguia (43-0, 34 KOs) at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV, on May 4. Prime Video and Premier Boxing Champions premiered the first episode of “Gloves Off,” which looks into Canelo and Munguia’s training camps as they prepare to put on a show on Cinco de Mayo weekend.
The episode opens up in Truckee, CA, near Lake Tahoe, where a man fills a tub outside with cold water. As he checks the temperature, which reads 46 degrees, he then sets a separate hot tub for 104 degrees. Canelo comes out of a room with a white robe, says good morning to the camera crew, and then walks outside. All around the house where Canelo is staying is snow as he is in a home in the woods. Canelo removes his robe and gets into the hot tub to relax while it’s 46 degrees outside.
Canelo then says in English, “In the bed, you wake up very comfortable and warm, right? If you want to be different, you need to stay different. Freeze gets you out of your comfort zone. You start your day like a million percent.” Canelo would then return to speaking Spanish and say, “This wakes you up. You get motivated to work and train. The breathing is energizing. You warm up.” You then see Canelo taking exaggerated breaths to shock his body.
Then, the episode goes to the ‘Gloves Off’ intro, which immediately shows Canelo training while the narrator talks about boxing’s hierarchy. Then Canelo is hitting a cobra bag while looking at the camera with a very serious demeanor. The narrator then transitions into Canelo and talks about what he has done in the sport to proclaim himself as the king. The narrator then introduces Munguia and what he has accomplished to earn the right to face Canelo.
The Gloves Off title hits the screen and returns to Truckee, CA, where Canelo is in the tub outside. A truck of Latin workers drives by as they say hello, and Canelo acknowledges them. In a separate scene, Canelo steps out of the tub and says, “We’re going to see a great fight on May 4.” Canelo is then seen hugging a tree and discusses how he wants to be remembered when it’s all said and done. Canelo leaves the tree but not before saying, “Good morning, mother f&cker.”
The episode goes into chapters, as seen in the first episode of Tim Tszyu vs Keith Thurman. Chapter one is titled “The People’s Champion” and returns to Canelo training at his gym in Truckee, CA. Canelo goes into his childhood and talks about how he would always fight in the streets because other kids picked on him for his freckles. The first chapter focuses on Canelo’s rise from a child to a superstar.
After the Canelo segment, it was time to head to Los Angeles, CA, with Munguia. He was draped in a hoody, sitting on a ring apron, and asked about his name not being as big as Canelo’s. Munguia humbly answered, “Well, it’s a great opportunity to, as I say, make a name for myself and start a great legacy.”
As Munguia is speaking, he is seen running with his team throughout the streets of Los Angeles. Then Jamie Munguia Sr. speaks on the origin of his son’s desire to be a boxer. The narrator goes into his come-up through the ranks and the background of his trainer, Freddie Roach. Munguia talks about how Roach laid into him after round seven in the John Ryder fight, which prompted him to finish Ryder.
The DAZN crew returns to Truckee, CA, with Canelo as he calls his daughter and has a moment with her over the phone. Canelo talks about the difficulty of leaving his family but understands it’s part of being a fighter. Then he says it’s his favorite day, which is sparring day. While riding to the gym, Canelo says that his wife told him she would come with the family to visit every 15 days, and he jokingly said “okay” as if to imply not to argue against what his wife wants. He finishes it by saying, “Happy wife, happy life.”
Chapter 3 begins titled “For the love of fighting,” as Canelo describes why he loves sparring so much. His trainer, Eddy Reynoso, then talks about the work they do in the gym. Canelo is then seen sparring with a fighter, but the clips are limited for obvious reasons. Towards the end of the episode, which runs 18 minutes and 50 seconds, Canelo goes into what he has accomplished as not being an easy thing but that he makes it look easy. Once the cameras cut away from Canelo dancing, it quickly puts up a video commercial selling the fight on May 4.
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