Canelo Alvarez may have met his match when he faces the young, high-pressure fighter Jaime Munguia this Saturday night. The undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo (60-2-2, 39 KOs) is facing a fighter who throws nonstop shots and has excellent power.
Boxing experts suspect the 33-year-old Canelo may have more than he bargained for taking on Munguia (43-0, 34 KOs) at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Tim Bradley says Canelo was “forced” to take this fight because PBC needed to “hit out of the park” with a successful PPV event. They certainly didn’t do that in their debut with Amazon last March.
Munguia is going to bring the heat all night, and Canelo is going to have to figure out how he can slow him down because he can’t afford to try and meet fire with fire by brawling with him using a Mexican style. Canelo isn’t capable of matching Munguia’s high-volume punch output.
Algieri: Canelo Must Avoid a Brawl
“I don’t see him going punch-for-punch in a Mexican-style fight against Munguia. I don’t think that would be a good idea for Canelo because he doesn’t have the pace to match the output of the younger, fresher Munguia,” said boxing expert Chris Algieri to the Probox TV YouTube channel talking about this Saturday’s fight between undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez and Jaime Munguia.
“His [Canelo] best ability is his counter-punching and game-changing power and ability to find those holes because Munguia is going to bring it. He’s going to fight Mexican style.”
The Key Factors
- Canelo’s Counter-Punching: Can Canelo land enough of his counter-shots to slow Munguia down when he’s unloading on him with his punch salvos?
- Munguia’s Pace: Can Canelo match Munguia’s pace? If not, he’ll need to get Munguia’s respect early to make him hesitant to throw combos.
- The Jab Factor: Canelo’s jab might not be enough to hold off Munguia from attacking him with his salvos.
“I think Munguia can only fight that way. He represents that Mexican warrior style. I don’t think he’s in any bad fights that can work against him against a sharp-shooter like Canelo, who throws punches in between,” said Paulie Malignaggi.
It’s like that trainer Freddie Roach will have Munguia following the Dmitry Bivol blueprint against Canelo by throwing combinations, and looking to keep him shelled up.
Munguia’s Style Poses a Threat
“Canelo has a very average jab, so Munguia may be able to get in there and get off those punch salvos at the time, but Canelo could potentially punch in between and possibly hurt him. I think there will be moments where questions are asked of Canelo and he may need to bring that inner Mexican out of him,” said Malignaggi.
Canelo has got to use his power to make Munguia think twice about using his relentless style of fighting against him because he’s going to be overwhelmed by shots just John Ryder was if he can’t hurt him with someone.
“I don’t think this is one of those coronation fights [for Canelo]. I don’t think it’s a John Ryder fight, a Charlo fight, or the third GGG fight where you’re fighting a 150-year-old guy. I think this is a guy that is coming to fight,” said Malignaggi about Munguia.