Canelo Alvarez says he will hand Jaime Munguía the first defeat of his career within seven rounds when the pair meet in a bout the champion is calling “historic” on Saturday.
Munguai has won all 43 fights in his career but is yet to trade with an opponent as storied as Canelo, who is a four-weight champion.
“Winning by knockout is always wonderful, right?” said Canelo, who is making a super middleweight defence and has 39 stoppages from 60 victories. “So I think I’m going to win by knockout before the eighth round.
“It’s a very significant fight. It’s going to be an historic one. It’s two Mexicans fighting for all four belts for the first time. That’s what I’m looking for, always: to leave my mark and put my country up high.”
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Canelo and Munguai will meet at the 20,000-capacity T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, with the champion taking on an opponent six years his junior.
Munguai could find cause for optimism in his ninth-round knockout of John Ryder in his most recent bout in January – a fighter who took Canelo the distance in May 2023. “I don’t care if Munguia is younger or older,” said Canelo. “I don’t care because Canelo, in the end, is different.
“I’m really happy to be here. Thank you to all the fans here. I’m looking forward to what’s going to be an outstanding week with you all. I thank you for it, and I’m really excited to be here.”
Canelo Alvarez asked about his #1 hater again attending his Grand Arrivals today with a sign taunting him about David Benavidez: “Why don’t we just enjoy this fight? Jaime Munguia deserves respect. The fan that had the sign, he’s been resentful since the Gennady Golovkin fight.” pic.twitter.com/GWNLWGKchP
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) April 30, 2024
Canelo v Munguia: Champion favourite
Canelo’s two losses from his 64 fights have come against Floyd Mayweather, who went undefeated throughout his career, and light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol in 2022.
He has returned to the arena twice since losing to Bivol there for the WBA crown, beating Gennady Golovkin on points in September 2022 and Jermell Charlo by the same outcome in his most recent fight last September.
Bookmakers would evidently be as surprised as anyone if Gomez’s expectations prove true. They have generally priced Canelo at around 6/1 on to register his latest victory.
Munguia’s win over Ryder was his fourth knockout from his last five fights and the first of those stoppages to go beyond five rounds.
The former WBO light middleweight titlist fought on the undercard of Canelo’s second bout with Golovkin in 2018 and has also campaigned at middleweight and light middleweight.
