Jaime Munguia is being discussed as the next opponent for undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez to defend against in May 2024 on Showtime PPV.
The plan is for Canelo to defend against Munguia (42-0, 33 KOs) in May and David Benavidez in September, with both fights taking place on Showtime pay-per-view.
Fans will be excited at seeing Canelo fight Benavidez next year, but they’ll be less eager to see him face Munguia, who has done nothing to earn this match-up.
If Canelo throws Munguia a bone by fighting him, he would be sending a message to promoters that if they match their fighters against weak opposition long enough, they’ll get a massive payday fight like Jaime.
It encourages promoters to keep pitting their fighters against poor opposition because they’ll be rewarded one of these days with a massive payday.
Canelo has two remaining fights on his three-fight contract with Premier Boxing Champions [PBC]. Although Showtime will no longer be broadcasting boxing events after 2023, they still have two fights that they’re contracted with Canelo in 2024 before they’re completely done.
Salvador Rodriguez of ESPN Knockout is reporting the plans for Canelo to potentially face Munguia & Benavidez next. Munguia has a fight planned against John ‘The Gorilla’ Ryder in January that he needs to get out of the way before he can challenge Canelo for his undisputed 168-lb championship in May.
For Canelo to fight Munguia next May suggests that he doesn’t care what the boxing public thinks about him and that he’s not interested in giving people a good fight against Dmitry Bivol, Terence Crawford, David Benavidez, or David Morrell in that month.
Perhaps Canelo is saving Crawford, Bivol & Morrell for later. Hopefully, that’s the case because Canelo has had a lot of weak opposition lately with his fights against Jermell Charlo, John Ryder, and Gennadiy Golovkin.
People would like to see Canelo end that three-fight streak of weaker opponents and face someone good like Crawford, Bivol, Benavidez, or Morrell next May, but he wants to play it safe.
WBC interim super middleweight champion Benavidez (27-0, 23 KOs) has to win his fight next month against Demetrius Andrade (32-0, 19 KOs) on November 25th on Showtime PPV before he can face Canelo next year in September on the Mexican holiday weekend.
The plans for Canelo to fight Munguia & Benavidez in 2024 could go up in smoke if one or both fighters lose their next fights, which is entirely possible.
Munguia looked bad in his last fight against Sergiy Derevyanchenko earlier this year, barely winning a 12 round unanimous decision after getting the stuffing beaten out of him by the past his best 37-year-old former world title challenger.
It remains to be seen how much Munguia has left after that war because he took awful punishment from Derevyanchenko and looked like the loser of the fight at the end.
Now, going up against Ryder in January, you can’t rule out Munguia losing that fight, and it wouldn’t necessarily be an upset, either. Munguia is overrated and a fighter who has a built-up record, lacking in quality wins over talented opposition.
