De La Hoya Backs Munguia to Topple Canelo in “Changing of the Guard”

By Jeepers Isaac - 04/29/2024 - Comments

Golden Boy boss Oscar De La Hoya predicts an upset victory with undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez losing his four titles to Jaime Munguia this Saturday night in their headliner.

De La Hoya is once again predicting a “changing of the guard” moment for his fighter Munguia (43-0, 34 KOs), with him defeating the worn-out, aging lion 34-year-old Canelo (60-2-2, 39 KOs), who he reveals has had surgeries on both knees and shoulder.

The way Oscar describes Canelo, he sounds like he’s a fossilized artifact ready to be put in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History among the dinosaur exhibit. If Munguia can seize the mantle from aging Canelo, it would put a big smile on De La Hoya’s face because that would make a star out of the 27-year-old Munguia.

Canelo-Munguia will meet in the main event on Amazon Prime Video PPV, DAZN PPV, and PPV dot com at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The event sells for $89.99. The start time is at 8:00 p.m. ET.

Canelo’s Decline a Key Factor

“Three reasons on why you should tune into Canelo-Munguia: All action, two Mexicans inside a ring at this elite level, and the passing of the torch. Jaime Munguia will beat him,” said promoter Oscar De La Hoya to DAZN Boxing about this Saturday’s fight between Canelo Alvarez and Jaime Munguia in Las Vegas.

“Canelo chose my fighter, Jaime Munguia, to fight on the Cinco De Mayo weekend. He’s a beast. I think it’s the changing of the guard,” said De La Hoya to the Breakfast Club 105.1 FM.

“Canelo is a great fighter, don’t get me wrong. He fought everybody, but every fighter has their decline. Every fighter has their wear & tear. Canelo has had surgeries on his knees and shoulders. He had a tough fight in his last outing against [John Ryder], and Munguia knocked that guy out in his last fight.”

Munguia definitely has the tools to defeat Canelo, but he’s going to have to take big shots and put in a good enough performance to convince the judges to give him the decision if it goes to the cards.

“I think Munguia being 27 years old and Canelo being 34 and on his way out, I think it’s the changing of the guard. Yeah,” said De La Hoya when asked if he would still say Canelo was on the decline if he were still promoting him.”

Munguia looked beatable in his last two fights against John Ryder and Sergiy Derevyanchenko. He’ll need to fight a lot better than that for him to grab the torch from Canelo to beat the next star at 168.

Even if Munguia does win, he’s not likely to hold onto his titles for long. If David Benavidez or David Morrell don’t get to him, Terence Crawford probably will. He’ll spot a weak champion and shoot up to 168 to end Munguia’s 15 minutes of fame.

De La Hoya Wants Canelo Beaten, Predicts Munguia Victory

“Would I encourage him to retire? Not until he fights Munguia. I want him to kick his [Canelo] a**. I think so,” said De La Hoya when asked if he believes Munguia will beat Canelo. “He’s a warrior, but you know how it is. In boxing, the next young guy has to come up and dethrone [the champion] just like me and [Julio Cesar] Chavez back in the day. Yeah, so it has to happen.”

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