Share this article
Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images
FIGHT WEEK
Canelo Alvarez is scheduled to defend his undisputed 168-pound championship against countryman Jaime Munguia tomorrow. DAZN pay-per-view Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
CANELO ALVAREZ (60-2-2, 39 KO)
WITH. JAIME MUNGUI (43-0, 34 KO)
- Day: Saturday, May 4
- Time: 8pm ET / 5pm PT (main event will be shown later)
- Where: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas
- Television/Streaming: DAZN pay-per-view
- Assignment: Super middleweight (168 pounds)
- Under threat: Alvarez’s IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO titles
- Pound-for-pound boxing addict: Alvarez No. 6
- The odds: Alvarez 5-1 favorite (average of multiple fights)
- Meaning (maximum five stars): *****
- Also on the card: Mario Barrios vs. Fabian Maidana, welterweight; Brandon Figueroa vs. Jessie Magdaleno, featherweight; Eimantas Stanionis vs. Gabriel Maestre, welterweight; Jesus Ramos Jr. vs. Johan Gonzalez, junior middleweight (Prime Video); Vito Mielnicki Jr. vs Ronald Cruz, middleweight contender (Prime Video)
- Background: Alvarez will continue a Cinco de Mayo weekend tradition that began more than a decade ago. The 33-year-old future Hall of Famer has won three straight since he lost a stunning unanimous decision to 175-pound titleholder Dmitry Bivol in May 2022, decisions over Gennadiy Golovkin in May Nine years later, John Ryder last May and Jermell Charlo last September. However, a loss to Bivol and poor performances against Triple-G and Ryder led people to believe that Alvarez was in decline. His performance against Charlo has gotten better, perhaps partly because the surgically repaired left wrist wound has healed. Charlo divided into two divisions for the fight, which limited the weight of Alvarez’s victory. Alvarez was scheduled to fight 160-pounder Jermall Charlo on Saturday but negotiations fell through, at which point Munguia stepped in. The 27-year-old from Mexico has earned a spot on the sport’s biggest star after his first two fights. -168-pound fighter, a tough unanimous decision over veteran Sergey Derevyanchenko last June and in the ninth round Take down Ryder in January. The former 154-pound champion appears to be thriving under new coach Freddie Roach but faces by far the biggest test of his decades-long career.
ALSO FIGHTING THIS WEEK
THURSDAY
- Erik Bazinyan vs. Shakeel Phinn, super average, Montreal (ESPN+)
FRIDAY
- Richard Fernandez vs. Oscar Arroyo, junior bantamweight, Houston (DAZN)
SATURDAY
- Emmanuel Rodriguez vs. Ryosuke Nishida, bantamweight (for Rodriguez’s IBF title), Osaka, Japan (no TV in the US)
