Saul Alvarez will defend his world super middleweight title against Jaime Munguia

One of the most popular boxers in the world, Mexican Saul Alvarez, who holds the title of absolute world champion in super middleweight (up to 76.2 kg), will fight his next fight against compatriot Jaime Munguia. Munguia has had a strong run in his recent fights, with wins over top contenders Sergey Derevyanchenko and John Ryder, but his potential is unclear.

The fight against Jaime Munguia was announced on their social networks by both the boxer himself and his collaborating promotional company, Premier Boxing Champions. It will take place on May 4 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The match will be one of the most notable events of the year, primarily, naturally, thanks to the reputation of Saul Alvarez. For several years, Alvarez firmly held the status of the best boxer in the world, regardless of weight category. The Mexican, who earned all his fame competing in the middle (up to 72.6 kg) and super middleweight division, lost it in 2022, when for the second time in his life he decided to jump into the light heavyweight category (up to 79.4 kg) and lost to Russian Dmitry Bivol . Despite the misfire, Alvarez retained enormous popularity, providing his fights with the highest commercial appeal. True, after losing to Bivol, he used it exclusively in the super middleweight division, in which the Mexican owns all four championship belts – the World Boxing Council (WBC), the International Boxing Federation (IBF), the World Boxing Association (WBA) and the World Boxing Organization (WBO). He won on points, but with a large margin of safety, three fights in a row against good opponents – Kazakh Gennady Golovkin, Briton John Ryder and American Jermell Charlo. At the same time, Charlo at the time of his collision with Alvarez in September last year was also the absolute champion, but in the category up to 69.9 kg.

There were different versions about who Saul Alvarez’s next opponent would be. They featured exclusively the names of superstars such as Terence Crawford, David Benavidez, Errol Spence, and Jermell’s brother Charlo Jermall. As a result, Alvarez’s representatives chose Jaime Munguia.

Munguia is not as big a name in boxing as most of those on the preliminary list of candidates for the opportunity to meet Saul Alvarez, whose fee for participation in the May match, according to various sources, will exceed $35 million. Alvarez’s compatriot held the champion title. But that was a long time ago – back in the last decade, when Munguia, who was very young at that time (he is now 27 years old), fought in the category up to 69.9 kg.

Then he left it, moving to middleweight, however, despite the absence of breakdowns (the fighter’s track record currently includes 43 wins in 43 matches), the Mexican was not given a chance to fight for the championship belt, regardless of his requests and merits. At the same time, experts noted that, having started training under the guidance of the legendary Freddie Roach, who at one time worked with a number of outstanding boxers – Mike Tyson, Manny Pacquiao, Oscar De La Hoya – Munguia improved greatly both tactically and technically.

In order to still get a championship fight, he needed to change the category again and fight two very bright fights against famous opponents. In the first of them last summer, Jaime Munguia fought against the Ukrainian Sergei Derevyanchenko. The match was extremely tough, and the Mexican won on points in the final round, knocking down Derevyanchenko. The plot of the fight impressed observers so much that some media resources – say, BoxingScene – recognized it as the best in 2023. In January, Munguia faced the experienced Ryder, who had recently caused some problems for Saul Alvarez. The Mexican dealt with the British extremely convincingly, knocking him out in the ninth round.

Alexey Dospehov