Paulie Malignaggi believes Jaime Munguia’s combination punching could overwhelm Canelo Alvarez’s counter-punching ability in their fight on May 4th.
Malignaggi notes that Munguia (43-0, 34 KOs) similarly throws five-punch salvos as Manny Pacquiao used to during his career.
Munguia has the same trainer, Freddie Roach, as Pacquiao had during his career, and he uses an in-and-out style to dominate his opponents.
WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol had a lot of success throwing sustained combinations against Canelo in their fight in 2022 and beat him by a 12 round decision.
That style is kryptonite for Canelo, who like most counter punchers, doesn’t throw a lot of punches and is dependent on making his opponents hesitant to throw.
Canelo had Gennadiy Golovkin gunshy in their three fights, afraid of being countered, but it didn’t work against Bivol. He wasn’t afraid to take an occasional shots just so he could bomb Canelo with three to five-punch combinations all night.
Munguia’s Pacquiao-Inspired Style
“Freddie Roach was with Manny Pacquiao, and that style was in and out. If you look at Munguia when he’s throwing his combinations, he kind of glides in with the same manner,” said Paulie Malignaggi to Probox TV about Jaime Munguia.
“It’s a rhythm where you can take the counter-punching ability of Canelo. When Canelo is at his best, he’s forcing you to be as active as him, which is bringing down your activity.”
If Munguia can use five-punch combinations all night against Canelo and take his punching power, he’ll win easily. Canelo doesn’t possess the work rate or stamina to match a fast pace, so it could be a very easy fight for Munguia.
The only question is, can Munguia withstand the powerful counter-punches that Canelo will be catching him with?
Canelo’s Counterpunching Prowess
“How does he do that? He does that by making you respect his power by counter-punching you with shots that you don’t see coming when you try to attack. Suddenly, you are hesitant, and the pace has been slowed down.
“I don’t know if you can mentally pressure Munguia because Munguia likes to fight. But I think you’ve got to catch Munguia with those ins and outs because once he starts getting off with the salvos, he gets confidence doing them, and he sees the crowd going crazy.
“Those are adrenalin-rush combos because the crowd goes crazy every time he throws them,” said Malignaggi.