Canelo Alvarez finally has his dance partner for May 4.
The undisputed 168-pound champion from Mexico will defend his titles against unbeaten countryman Jaime Munguia on Prime Video Pay-Per-View from Las Vegas, according to reports.
And he completed the deal with Premier Boxing Champions, the company from which he had split only days ago. That could mean a potential showdown with David Benavidez, a PBC fighter, is still in play for the fall.
No formal announcement has been made. And the site hasn’t been determined.
Alvarez’s pursuit of an opponent for Cinco de Mayo weekend seemed to be interminable.
He announced cryptically on social media a few weeks ago that he would fight an “American”, which most observers took to mean 160-pound beltholder Jermall Charlo. The two had been in talks for some time.
However, Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KOs) and Charlo couldn’t come to terms. Alvarez then left PBC after the first fight in a three-fight deal, which some reports indicated stemmed from Alvarez’s refusal to commit to a fight with Benavidez in September.
That’s when Munguia (43-0, 34 KOs) became the leading candidate even though he’s not American.
Alvarez reportedly had been working with Matchroom Boxing in an attempt to nail down an opponent for May 4 – which is only two months away – but they evidently couldn’t get it done, which prompted Alvarez to return to PBC.
Munguia is a strapping 27-year-old from Tijuana, just south of the U.S. border. The former 154-pound titleholder is an improving boxer with a great deal of power, as his 34 stoppages indicate.
He’s coming off a brutal knockout of normally durable John Ryder on Jan. 27, when he put the Englishman down four times before knocking him out in the ninth round with new trainer Freddie Roach in his corner.
That followed a unanimous, but close decision over tough veteran Sergey Derevyanchenko last June, which was another significant accomplishment.
Of course, neither Ryder nor Derevyanchenko are in the class of Alvarez. That means we’ll learn exactly how good Munguia really is in this fight.
Alvarez is coming off his strongest performance in a few years, a near-shutout decision over Jermell Charlo (Jermall’s twin) last September. He had battled injuries in his previous few fights.
Meanwhile, Benavidez is expected to face Oleksandr Gvozdyk at 175 pounds in June, although no announcement has been made. Benavidez has said he will be able to come back down to 168 if necessary.
