Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez vs Jaime Munguia ‘Gloves Off’ Ep 2 Recap

The second and final episode of ‘Gloves Off’ was released on Prime Video & Premier Boxing Champion’s YouTube page as they followed undisputed super middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KOs) and Jaime Munguia (43-0, 34 KOs) during their training camps.

Once again, the episode begins in Truckee, CA, the home of Canelo’s training camp. The scene opens up with Canelo and his daughter walking up the snowy hill with a shovel in hand. Canelo starts shoveling snow and throwing it in the direction of his daughter. “This is special for me because it motivates me even more when they’re here. Obviously, for me, this is training camp, but I’ve already had so many of these and the truth is, you need your family to get more motivation.”

The “Prime Video presents” comes up and then quickly turns to Canelo giving his daughter instructions on how to use the snow sled. As Canelo is shown pulling his daughter’s sled, he mentions how much he learns from them. “Being a daddy, boxer, and husband is not easy, but it’s beautiful.” After the Gloves Off title screen, it quickly goes to Canelo hitting the cobra bag.

Eddy Reynoso talks up his fighter’s opponent Munguia, and what he brings to the fight. Canelo says that although there were a lot of names on the table, he ultimately chose Munguia because it was the most interesting fight. He feels Munguia’s mentality will make this “guaranteed to be a good fight.”

The episode then goes into Chapter 4, “The Boxer, Father, Husband (and Icon).” Canelo’s wife, daughter, and son arrive at the gym and Canelo is all smiles. His son appears to be interested in boxing and is shown hitting the heavy bag. Canelo then says that he’s told his son he prefers for him to be a Formula 1 driver or a golfer but not a fighter. However, his son has definitively told his father he wants to become a boxer. Canelo says his youngest daughter is all about her father and looks out for him. After Canelo says goodbye to his family, the camera crew heads to Los Angeles.

Munguia is seen lying on a couch as he video calls his young son. He smiles as he sees his son sitting up for the first time. Munguia misses being around his family and says he hasn’t seen his son in five months. The scene goes to a waving Mexican flag, and Chapter 5 is displayed saying “El Sonador (The Dreamer).” Munguia is seen purchasing a fruit cup from a street vendor in his typical, humble fashion, which is widely popular among those local in L.A.

Munguia enjoys the newfound popularity and how much this fight has brought to him. He feels that come May 4, he’ll be the one that is cheered for the loudest. Although the interviewer tries to get Munguia riled up as he asks about his feelings about being an underdog, Munguia stays cool and expresses how it motivates him for the fight.

The episode then returns to Truckee, where Canelo is at a masseuse, and Chapter 6 shows “The Manifestor.” The masseuse and Canelo go over what parts of his body he wants massaged, and she begins. Canelo reflects back to the Floyd Mayweather fight and how he learned so much from his first professional loss. Canelo says he doesn’t know how many fights he has left, and he’s taken it one fight at a time.

Leaving the training camps, the episode goes to the press conference held in Beverly Hills, CA, where the fight was initially announced and, shortly after, the final training montages.

My Three Cents

I understand that Prime Video and Premiere Boxing Champions (PBC) are promoting Canelo, but with the little time Munguia did receive in the two episodes, they should have just labeled them the Canelo episodes (Canelo was given executive producer credits). There is a feeling that Golden Boy & Zanfer should have stepped up and created their own shoulder programming for their fighter. Either way, fans are excited for Cinco de Mayo weekend as Canelo faces Munguia in what looks to be an all-out war.

Abraham Gonzalez

Abraham Gonzalez is the founder of FightsATW. His journalistic work has been published and used across several platforms to include online, network TV and promotional companies. He is an American Public University alumnus and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA). Abraham was the Managing Editor for NYFights, Big Fight Weekend, contributed to FanSidedMMA and ProBoxTV.

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