For years Jaime Munguia has wanted to be like Canelo Alvarez, and on May 4 in Las Vegas he gets the chance to ascend to the throne of Mexican boxing.
The 27-year-old Munguia (43-0 with 34 wins inside distance) goes up against P4P great Canelo in a blockbusting Cinco de Mayo weekend showdown at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (live on Amazon Prime Video PPV and DAZN PPV).
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For Jaime it is boxing dream territory, and he hopes a passing of the torch. He explained why it’s such a special fight at Tuesday’s press conference in Los Angeles.
Munguia on Canelo, and Roach
“Canelo has always been a source of pride and motivation for me,” he told media.
“I used to say when I was coming up in the sport that I want to be like him, and now we get a chance to face him and hopefully be where he is soon.”
Munguia could not be in better hands for this battle for Canelo’s undisputed world super-middleweight title – he will have legendary trainer Freddie Roach heading up his corner.
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“Not only is Freddie Roach a great trainer, but he’s a great person and he’s a motivator,” said Munguia.
“He’s always motivating us to keep going forward and keep training hard.
“We’re ready for this stage. We’re ready for everything and we’re going to have a great fight that night. We’re very confident.
“This is just the beginning of the best part of my career. I’ve done a lot in my career so far, but I believe I’m just reaching my peak now.”
Mutual respect
While most big boxing PPV fights sell better with a little needle and beef between the two combatants, for now there is only respect between Munguia and Canelo.
“The respect between us is mutual. We want to be a source of pride not just for Mexicans in Mexico, but those all around the world who are expecting a great fight. It’s going to be a great Mexican party and I promise a great fight that fans are going to love.”
Munguia fans (and underdog backers) will take heart from the fact their man dismantled Britain’s John Ryder inside the distance earlier this year. Ryder had gone the distance with Canelo in Mexico in 2023. Jaime though is not reading too much into that.
“Both our fights with John Ryder are two completely different fights. We just took advantage of the opportunity we saw. We know every fight is different so we won’t take too much from Canelo’s fight against Ryder.”
