Former world champion Chris Algieri believes Jaime Munguia could pull off the upset against Canelo Alvarez this Saturday night if he follows the blueprint created years ago.
Munguia’s jab will be key for him because he’s got to keep Canelo’s hands at him, and not allow him opportunities to land his counter shots that he tends to focus on to win his fights.
Algieri feels that Munguia (43-0, 34 KOs) has the volume punching, engine, and size to beat undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo (60-2-2, 39 KOs) in their 12-round fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Munguia’s Potential Weaknesses
What could be a problem for Munguia is that he doesn’t move well, and he likes to get involved in wars. It won’t be hard for Canelo to get to Munguia to exchange shots, and once that happens, he’ll land the cleaner, eye-catching shots that will enable him to win rounds.
Munguia is a good fighter, but his ring IQ is quite low, and he’s not shown improvement in that area because of the abysmal opposition that his promoters at Golden Boy and Zanfer have been matching him against.
They’ve built his 11-year career for this moment for this money fight against Canelo, so they’ve not shown interest in stepping Munguia against fighters that would have given him a chance to improve the way other fighters do. It’s like an NFL team playing only against 4-12 teams so they can get to the Super Bowl.
That’s how Munguia’s career has been brought along, and Canelo has accommodated him by giving him that shot.
“I’m getting a funny feeling that Jaime Munguia might be able to pull this off. Youth is a big thing, and he’s not just youthful. He’s got a lot of fights, so he’s got a lot of experience,” said boxing expert Chris Algieri to the Probox TV YouTube channel about the Canelo Alvarez vs. Jaime Munguia fight this Saturday night on May 4th.
Algieri’s Keys to Munguia Victory
- The Jab
- Dictate the Pace
- Offense and Defense
“He’s got a great engine. He throws a ton of punches, he’s tough as nails and he doesn’t mind getting hit and going forward and going through the resistance put up by Canelo. Plus, he’s really big for the weight class.
“He’s tall. Canelo is shorter than me. He’s not a big 168-pounder, and he’s going to have to deal with a tall, long fighter in front of him. If there was ever a blueprint for how to beat Canelo Alvarez, Dmitry Bivol showed us.”
Munguia is nowhere near as talented as Bivol, so Algieri’s comparison between him and the WBA light heavyweight champion is meaningless. Jaime barely beat 38-year-old Sergiy Derevyanchenko and looked horrible in that fight. He doesn’t fight like Bivol, and if he did, he wouldn’t have been spoonfed tomato cans his entire career by his promoters.
“He kept a jab in Canelo’s face. Canelo doesn’t like jabs. Floyd Mayweather used a jab to beat him, and Sergey Kovalev gave Canelo a lot of trouble because he has a very underrated jab that sets up those power shots,” said Algieri.
“#2, set a pace. #3, mixing offense and defense together and making that seamless. Canelo likes that high guard defense. If you keep touching that and keeping those hands at home, it takes away a lot of those counter-punching opportunities for Canelo.”
Munguia can set a pace, but he’ll get hit a lot and might be knocked out by Canelo if he fights recklessly as he did against Derevyanchenko and John Ryder. Canelo is an excellent counter-puncher and will take advantage of Munguia if he fights like a wild man.
