Canelo Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KOs) appears headed back to Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom at DAZN to fight Edgar Berlanga and Jaime Munguia in that order in 2024.
The move away from PBC back to Matchroom is being reported by ESPN Knockouts Salvador Rodriguez, which could see Canelo defend his undisputed super middleweight championship against Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) on May 4th and the highly ranked Munguia (43-0, 23 KOs) in September.
Breaking Ties with PBC
PBC had wanted Canelo to fight Munguia on May 4th, but it wasn’t in his plans then. Salvador reports that Canelo will fight Munguia, but not when PBC wanted him to in May.
Where this leaves Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions is unclear, as losing the superstar Canelo will be a huge blow to his new deal with Amazon Prime.
The top brass at Amazon can’t be happy seeing Canelo depart because he would have been the ideal fighter to bring in pay-per-view buys to make their partnership with PBC a success.
With Canelo gone, it puts more pressure on the remaining PBC fighters, like Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and David Benavidez, to create interest for their events on Amazon Prime.
The Quote that Says it All
“Change of signs. Everything indicates that neither Charlo, Benavidez, Crawford, nor PBC for Canelo. The Berlanga and Munguía plan is activated with Matchroom for the four-time world champion,” said Salvador Rodriguez on X.
Many fans saw this coming when the reports were out that PBC wanted Canelo to fight Munguia next on May 4th instead of Jermall Charlo.
Fan Reaction: Disappointment and Laughter
On social media, Canelo is being trashed by fans laughing at him for choosing to fight Edgar Berlanga next, followed by Jaime Munguia. Those guys aren’t exactly the murderer’s row at 168, seeing that they both have been carefully steered by their management during their entire careers and maneuvered well to avoid the dangerous killers.
Regardless of which company and network Canelo is with, the boxing public wanted to see him fight these guys:
1. David Benavidez
2. Jaime Munguia
3. David Morrell
4. Artur Beterbiev
5. Dmitry Bivol
The good news is Canelo will still fight Munguia, but it just won’t be his next fight on May 4th. Ideally, Munguia will fight someone good, like Morrell, to help build-up the Canelo fight rather than another tomato can as he’s been doing his entire 11-year professional career. If Munguia can beat Morrell, he will make the fight between him and Canelo much bigger.