Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez vs Jaime Munguia Is Perfect For May 4

On Friday night, via a video on his social media account, the undisputed super middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KOs) officially announced his opponent for May 4. That fighter is none other than the 27-year-old, undefeated contender Jaime Munguia (43-0, 34 KOs). It’s the best opponent not named David Benavidez, but for Canelo, this is the perfect fight for him on Cinco de Mayo weekend.

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How Did We Get Here With Rumors of Guarantees, Escrow Accounts & Promotional Politics?

This has been a strange few months, and we are only in March. In January, word started to circulate that Canelo was ready to announce his next opponent, and that man would be WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo (33-0, 22 KOS). Charlo was fresh off a non-title fight against Jose Benavidez Jr (28-3-1, 19 KOs) in November, winning unanimously. Although he looked pretty good, fans did not forget that his younger brother Jermell had put up a lackluster performance two months before, making the fight with his older brother not appealing for May.

The public backlash of such an announcement was loud, and adding to that was Jermall Charlo posting videos from his vacation while being under the influence of alcohol. He spoke of not being in contact with Al Haymon since his fight and was unaware of a Canelo matchup being signed for May. This added to the confusion as fans were ready to see Canelo go up against David Benavidez and not Jermall Charlo.

Shortly after, boxing advisor Rick Glaser went on X and posted that Canelo was giving the PBC an ultimatum as he wanted the Charlo fight along with the guaranteed money in an escrow account before signing for the fight. All of this was according to Glaser, who is connected throughout the industry and has a decent average of being right & wrong. About a week later, Glaser would post again, saying Canelo was off of Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) and that he was negotiating a new deal with DAZN.

While this is happening, Salvador Rodriguez from ESPN Knockout reported that Zanfer Promotions CEO Fernando Beltran was negotiating the Munguia fight directly with Canelo without his partner Oscar De La Hoya from Golden Boy Promotions. This was key as Canelo and De La Hoya had a nasty public breakup, and they wouldn’t be sitting across from each other any time soon.

Soon after, the Ring Magazine’s Jake Donovan reported that he heard the Canelo fight against Munguia was in talks for a PPV on Amazon Prime with PBC. There was some slander thrown his way about it, but in the end, he was right, and it was announced that Canelo vs. Munguia will take place May 4 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV on Amazon Prime PPV & DAZN PPV.

The Last Two Years for Jaime Munguia Have All Led to This Moment

It was June 2022 when Munguia first dipped his toes into a weight class (catchweight of 165 lbs.) above middleweight, and the idea was that if he were comfortable and looked great, then the campaign for the Canelo fight would begin. Munguia would stop veteran Jimmy Kelly in five rounds, but more importantly, his fan base was big enough to start filling up arenas as he did that night. Five months later, he would fight in Guadalajara, Mexico, the birthplace of Canelo, and score a third-round stoppage over Gonzalo Coria. That was primarily to get the attention of the super middleweight king and have his own people talk about the potential of him and Munguia fighting in the future.

Munguia would return to the States and pack the Toyota Arena in Ontario, CA, and score a unanimous decision over Sergey Derevyanchenko, a fight-of-the-year candidate. Then, the most important fight was scheduled for January of this year, which was the one against John Ryder.

Ryder lost to Canelo the year before, but he went the distance with the undisputed super middleweight king which begged the question of what Munguia could do to the same opponent. Munguia would again pack the house, but this time at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, AZ, and stopped Ryder in nine rounds. Now, Munguia hit the radar of Canelo and was worthy of being on the short list of opponents. This couldn’t have occurred without the careful matchmaking and strategic placement of Munguia’s fights. We are here now largely because of Zanfer & Golden Boy Promotions.

Canelo Facing Munguia on Cinco De Mayo Is Money In the Bank

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Everyone wants to see Canelo face Benavidez, but having a true Mexican vs Mexican fight on Cinco de Mayo doesn’t get any better. Although Benavidez is ‘The Mexican Monster,’ he’s an American with a Mexican father. Munguia is from Tijuana, Mexico, and the hardcore Mexican fans will be able to connect better with that, especially with Cinco de Mayo. They will see it as Canelo honoring them for taking such a challenge on that day, even though we all know Munguia is less of a risk than the Benavidez fight.

Also, Canelo recently made a deal with Box Azteca to show his fights for free in Mexico, which made the move to fight Munguia even smarter. At the end of the day, Canelo is a businessman. Munguia has been selling out arenas and has built up his profile amongst the Mexican fight fans for some time now. This fight makes all of the sense in the world, and on May 4, we will have an event that surpasses a million purchased PPVs.

My Three Cents

I love this matchup for many different reasons, and Munguia has done enough to capture the imagination of boxing fans worldwide. Although frustrations were growing with his opponent selection, all of it was to get to this point, and he finally reached the moment he’d been chasing throughout his career: his shot at greatness.

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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