By: Sean Crose
It’s hard to imagine that Jaime Munguia, at just 27 years old, has participated in a total of 43 professional fights. Perhaps even more unimaginable is that Munguia has yet to lose a match. While many fighters with impeccable records are on the rise or simply refuse to challenge themselves, Munguia has proven himself to be a warrior. To be sure, the Tijuana native’s 2023 fight with Sergey Derevyanchenko was a memorable one, a thriller that saw Munguia really get away with it by winning via second-round knockout twelfth.
But that, of course, is not all. This Saturday in Las Vegas, Munguia will challenge the one and only Canelo Alvarez for Canelo’s undisputed super middleweight championship. While he certainly doesn’t like to go on weekends, it would be ridiculous to consider Munguia an easy job for future Hall of Famer Canelo. There is that long record after all. Additionally, Munguia will enter the ring with considerable height and gain an advantage over the defending champion. The reality is that he is significantly younger than Canelo and Munguia’s surprise victory on Saturday may not come as a surprise.
However, this is Canelo we are talking about here, a man with a huge record of 60 wins, 2 losses and 2 draws. Those two losses, along with one of those two draws, both came against the best in the business: Floyd Mayweather, Gennady Golovkin and Dmitry Bivol. Furthermore, Canelo more or less knocked out all the other opponents and won. Miguel Cotto, Sergey Kovalev, Caleb Plant and others all fell victim to the red-haired star’s gloved fists. However, rumors are circulating around the boxing campfire that 33-year-old Canelo is now starting to slide.
That may or may not be true, but – even if he has lost form – there is no denying that Canelo is one of the best active fighters in the world today. He’s patient, has a good chin, possesses solid defense, can devastate opponents with body blows and knows better than anyone how to finish a performance. It will be interesting to see him fight against Munguia, a warrior with the strength to overcome walls, the heart to keep him fighting, and some effective ring skills to start up. There’s no denying that fans want Canelo to face the ferocious David Benavidez, but that doesn’t mean Saturday’s fight between him and Munguia isn’t worthy of curiosity.
Image: Golden Boy
