The two fighters faced off for the first time ahead of their all-Mexico, Cinco De Mayo weekend showdown on Saturday, May 4, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and available on Prime Video pay-per-view.
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Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Jaime Munguia met face to face Tuesday afternoon at the Beverly Hills Hotel to officially begin the promotion of their highly anticipated main event Saturday, May 4 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, in a PBC Pay-Per-View available on Prime Video (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT).
Five of the things we learned from the first press conference for their super middleweight championship clash on Cinco de Mayo weekend are listed below.
Munguia’s humility made Alvarez change his mind about boxing another Mexican
Alvarez has drawn some criticism for agreeing to fight Munguia because he previously stated that he wouldn’t face another opponent of Mexican heritage.
Benavidez, a Mexican-American who was born and raised in Phoenix, is commonly considered the greatest threat to Alvarez’s championship reign in the 168-pound division. Guadalajara’s Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KOs) nevertheless chose Tijuana’s Munguia (43-0, 34 KOs) as his first Mexican opponent in seven years.
The undisputed super middleweight champion hasn’t boxed a fellow Mexican since he dominated Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in a May 2017 bout that Alvarez won by shutout, 120-108, on all three scorecards at T-Mobile Arena. Alvarez cited Munguia’s respectful approach to securing his shot at Alvarez’s titles as one of the primary reasons he changed his mind about boxing a fellow Mexican.
“I know I had said that I wouldn’t fight against another Mexican fighter,” Alvarez said during the press conference. “But someone respectful like Munguia, who earned this chance fight after fight, giving it his all, it’s something that I’m glad that we were able to make happen. And I hope that, you know, everybody can see how this is gonna be great for everybody involved and for Mexico in particular.”
Munguia won’t grow overconfident after his knockout of John Ryder
Much has been made of Munguia’s demolition of Ryder because the former WBO junior middleweight champion knocked out Ryder in the British southpaw’s first fight after he took Alvarez the distance.
Munguia dropped Ryder once in the second round, again in the fourth round and twice during the ninth round, when their scheduled 12-round bout was stopped January 27 at Footprint Center in Phoenix. London’s Ryder fought through a broken nose, got up from a fifth-round knockdown and went all 12 rounds with Alvarez in his previous appearance May 6 at Akron Stadium in Zapopan, Mexico.
The 27-year-old Munguia made it clear Tuesday, though, that he hasn’t taken too much from the fact that he did something Alvarez couldn’t accomplish by knocking out Ryder.
“Two completely different fights,” Munguia said. “In the second round we noticed weaknesses for him, and … we hurt him. Like I said before, two completely different fights. It doesn’t have [anything] to do with what we’re gonna do coming up [against Alvarez].”
The first full title unification bout between Mexicans during boxing’s four-belt era
Ring announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr., who moderated the press conference, pointed out Tuesday that Alvarez-Munguia will be the first fight among Mexicans to determine an undisputed champion in a division since the IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO belts all gained recognition.
Alvarez’s first four fights for boxing’s four super middleweight titles came against Americans Caleb Plant and Jermell Charlo, Kazakhstan’s Gennadiy Golovkin and England’s Ryder. Munguia will compete in his first title bout that’ll determine a fully unified champion and could join Alvarez as the only Mexicans who’ve earned undisputed status during the sport’s four-belt era.
For a closer look at Canelo vs Munguia, check out our fight night page.
