Canelo Munguia Press Conference. Photo Credit: Esther Lin, Premier Boxing Champions
An all-Mexico undisputed championship clash will take center stage for the first time in more than 50 years.
Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Jaime Munguia were both inside the super middleweight limit. Guadalajara’s Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 knockouts) was 166.8 pounds, his lightest weight since he moved up to the division in 2020. The reigning Ring and fully unified champ will attempt his seventh divisional title defense.
Tijuana’s Munguia (43-0, 34 KOs) checked in at 167.4 pounds. The former identical to his weight for his 2023 Fight of the Year-honored victory over Sergiy Derevyanchenko last June. The unbeaten former WBO 154-pound tillist his first major title fight in nearly five years.
Their scheduled 12-round clash headlines a PBC on Prime Pay-Per-View show this Saturday from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. PPV.com and DAZN’s PPV arm will also carry the event, beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET. The suggested retail price is $89.99 + tax.
Alvarez, The Ring 168-pound champion, defeated Jermell Charlo (35-2-1, 19 KOs) The Ring 154-pound champion, last Sept. 30. The win was his third straight since he dropped back down to 168. Alvarez was unsuccessful in his May 2022 bid versus WBA light heavyweight titlsit Dmitry Bivol.
Both bouts took place at T-Mobile Arena, where Alvarez appears for the ninth time. The four-division champ headlined the venue’s first boxing event, a May 2016 knockout win over Amir Khan.
Munguia emerged as the leading candidate to land boxing’s equivalent of the Powerball jackpot after his latest win.
The unbeaten 27-year-old looked spectacular in a ninth-round knockout of England’s John Ryder (32-7, 18 KOs) on January 27 at Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Munguia immediately called for an all-Mexico clash with Alvarez during his post-fight interview, but was uncertain at the time if he would land that fight.
That dream has come true and will mark the first all-Mexico undisputed championship showdown in more than 52 years. The last such occasion was in March 1972, when Rafael Herrera knocked out ‘Rockabye’ Ruben Olivares in the eighth-round to win the Ring, WBC and WBA bantamweight championship.
PPV Undercard Weights
Mario Barrios (28-2, 19 KOs), San Antonio, Texas, 146.6 pounds
Fabian Maidana (22-2, 16 KOs), Buenos Aires, Argentina, 146.2 pounds
12 rounds, for Barrios’ interim WBC welterweight title
Brandon Figueroa (24-1-1, 18 KOs), Weslaco, Texas, 125.4 pounds
Jessie Magdaleno (29-2, 18 KOs), Las Vegas, 128.6* pounds
12 rounds, featherweight
* Magdaleno was 2.6 pounds over the limit; Figueroa’s interim WBC featherweight title no longer at stake.
Eimantas Stanionis (14-0, 9 KOs), Kaunas, Lithuania, 146.6 pounds
Gabriel Maestre (6-0-1, 5 KOs), Barcelona, Venezuela, 146.8 pounds
12 rounds, for Stanionis’ WBA ‘Regular’ welterweight title
PBC on Prime Video Prelim Weights
Jesus Ramos Jr. (20-1, 16 KOs), Casa Grande, Arizona, 154.6 pounds
Johan Gonzalez (34-2, 33 KOs), Las Vegas via Valencia, Venezuela, 153.6 pounds
10 rounds, junior middleweight
Vito Mielnicki, Jr. (17-1, 12 KOs), Roseland, New Jersey, 153.6 pounds
Ronald Cruz (19-3-1, 12 KOs), North Hollywood, California, 152.2 pounds
10 rounds, junior middleweight
Jake Donovan a senior writer for The Ring and vice president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.
