Promoter Oscar De La Hoya wasn’t happy with how “boring” the Canelo Alvarez vs. Jaime Munguia press conference was this week to kick off their May 4th fight on Amazon Prime and DAZN PPV in Las Vegas.
(Photo credit: Esther Lin & Ryan Hafey/Premier Boxing Champions)
De La Hoya, the former six-division world champion, wanted to see more drama between Canelo and Munguia instead of the two fighters’ niceties towards one another.
Munguia has no personality whatsoever, and his resume is padded with no talented opposition. He shouldn’t even be in this fight due to his lack of experience at 168. He’s fought three times against these soft opponents: John Ryder [35], Sergiy Derevyanchenko [38] and Jimmy Kelly.
It wasn’t surprising to see Munguia (43-0, 34 KOs) being polite because that’s how he’s always been during his career. Also, the last thing Munguia wants to do is anger the superstar Canelo (60-2-2, 39 KOs), given that this is a fight that he’s been waiting for since he turned pro a decade ago.
Unfortunately for De La Hoya, if there is trash-talking during the process conferences, he will need to do it.
Oscar can’t count on Munguia’s trainer, Freddie Roach, to do the hard work drumming up excitement like he once did with Manny Pacquiao. Roach’s speech is now hard to understand due to his medical condition.
Where’s the Drama?
“Yesterday’s press conference was so boring like Canelo’s fights. Wait till I unleash,” said Oscar De La Hoya on X, complaining about the Canelo Alvarez vs. Jaime Munguia kickoff press conference this week.
This event might not do well on PPV because there won’t be any trash talk to create interest, and the boxing public never asked for this clash in the first place. They wanted to see Canelo fight David Benavidez or Terence Crawford, not Munguia, with his inflated resume filled with cans.
“The Canelo-Munguia press conference was quite interesting because everything was so kind and gentle,” De La Hoya continued. “Everybody was thanking everybody, but that’s what the Mexican showdown will be. Outside the ring, polite. Inside the ring, a war.”