Promoter Oscar De La Hoya views the May 4th Canelo Alvarez vs. Jaime Munguia as a “passing of the torch” between the older fighter in his final years being replaced by the young phenom.
It’s understandable why De La Hoya is pushing the passing of the torch narrative; Munguia must become a star now. He’s 43-0, and fans are starting to wonder if Munguia will reach 50-0 without ever having fought an elite-level opponent during his career.
De La Hoya says Munguia’s career has been built for this moment to supersede Canelo (60-2-2, 39 KOs), and that time has finally arrived. Munguia replacing Canelo will give the boxing world a young star that can carry the sport for the next decade.
Oscar points out that Canelo, 33, is approximately the same age as when he took the baton from Miguel Cotto in 2015. Cotto was 35 then and about the same physical state as Canelo is now, more or less.
Munguia: The Next Great Mexican Champion?
“We literally came together as a happy family and made this happen,” said promoter Oscar De La Hoya to Fight Hub TV about the deal for Canelo Alvarez to face Jaime Munguia on May 4th in a collaboration between Amazon Prime and DAZN PPV.
“Obviously, Canelo wasn’t going to fight Charlo. That would have been a disaster. Canelo wasn’t going to fight Benavidez for some strange reason, I don’t know. We used some of the psychology, and Jaime Munguia got the Canelo fight, and we’re all happy.”
Canelo wanted to fight Jermall Charlo, but PBC reportedly wasn’t interested in that fight. Benavidez is might be too big for Canelo, so you can understand why he chose not to take that fight. If Canelo were bigger and younger, he’d fight Benavidez, but he’s not a light heavyweight.
“Jaime is an undefeated, serious fighter who wants to become great and world champion again. Jaime Munguia’s career was built on this moment, and I think he’s going to seize,” said De La Hoya.
Passing the Torch or Taking a Payday?
“You take a look at when Cotto fought Canelo. I think they were like the same age, where Cotto was the older guy, and Canelo was the passing of the torch,” said De La Hoya. “So, this is almost similar to Canelo and Munguia,” said De La Hoya.
It probably won’t make Canelo happy knowing that De La Hoya views this as a passing of the torch for his fighter. Canelo obviously agreed to fight Munguia because he believes he’s beatable. If he didn’t think he could win, he’d swerve him like he’s doing with Benavidez.
“Canelo is a great fighter. I just feel our fighter [Munguia] will be better that night. I really think it’s the perfect opportunity [for Munguia to defeat Canelo]. We couldn’t wait any longer. Fans were saying, ‘Munguia is almost 50-0. When is he going to step up?’ Well, this is it,” said De La Hoya.
