Written by: Sean Crose
It is hard to imagine that Jaime Munguia, who is only 27 years old, has participated in a total of 43 fights. Perhaps even more difficult to imagine is that Munguia has yet to lose a single belt. While many fighters with perfect records are on the way up or simply refuse to challenge themselves, Munguia has proven to be a fighter. Indeed, the Tijuana native's 2023 fight against Sergey Derevyanchenko was one to remember, a feat that saw Munguia rise to the occasion by pulling out a 12th round submission victory.
But that, of course, is not all. This Saturday in Las Vegas, Munguia will challenge the one and only Canelo Alvarez in Canelo's super middleweight championship. As unpopular as he is heading into the weekend, it might be ridiculous to write off Munguia as an easy job for future Hall of Famer Canelo. There is that long record, after all. In addition there is the fact that Munguia will enter the ring at length and gain an advantage over the defending champion. Know that he is much younger than Canelo and his victory over Munguia on Saturday may not be that surprising.
Anyway, this is Canelo we're talking about here, a man with a great record of 60 wins, 2 losses and 2 draws. Those two losses, along with one of those two fights, came against the best in the business: Floyd Mayweather, Gennady Golovkin, and Dmitry Bivol respectively. In addition, Canelo took all the other comers lightly and appeared victorious. Miguel Cotto, Sergey Kovalev, Caleb Plant, and more have all fallen victim to the red-haired superstar's dazzling punches. The story about boxing fire, however, is that the 33-year-old Canelo is starting to slip.
That may or may not be true, but – even if he's on the decline – there's no denying that Canelo is one of the best fighters in the world today. He's patient, has a great chin, strong defense, can hurt his opponent with body blows, and knows better than anyone how to close a show. It will be interesting to see him against Munguia, a fighter with the power to remove the wall, the heart to keep himself in the heat of the battle, and some effective skills in the ring to start. There's no denying that fans want Canelo to face the aggressive David Benavidez, but that doesn't mean Saturday's fight between him and Munguia isn't worth the hype.
Photos: Golden Boy
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