The best battle of Mexico since Morales - Herrera trilogy takes place on Saturday with Canelo Alvarez defending his swath of belts at super middleweight (168 pounds) against up and coming undefeated, younger, taller fighter and fellow Mexicano Jaime Munguia. Lots of great storylines in this one outside of the match itself, and we got a hold of number 1 that boiled over at the press conference earlier in the week:
Oscar de la Hoya and Alvarez do not like each other - at all. Oscar is one of the most divisive figures in all of boxing, but damn he's been a great promoter as of late, representing Ryan Garcia two weeks back and now going at it with his former protege earlier this week. I've sneaky come around to Oscar in recent years - I didn't like him as much when there was the massive Golden Boy - Top Rank promoter rift in the early 2010s with GB fighters on Showtime, TR fighters exclusively on HBO, but at that time he was more of a figurehead with Richard Schaefer running the company operations. With him back at the helm, the entertainment value has increased significantly - he's built himself into one of the most well known brands in the sport.
The background on why they dislike one another: Canelo was the top pony ins the stable of GoldenBoy's roster in the late 2000s into the early 2010s when Canelo was making his name, fighting huge names in his early twenties from Shane Moseley and Floyd Mayweather in 2012 and 2013, to Miguel Cotto a couple of years later with a number of tough brawls mixed in towards GGG in 2018. I do not know exactly when the two split and Canelo began representing himself and I don't plan on doing that quick search for this blog (gotta shoot from the hip), but it was the classic story of the up and comer getting to a certain level, no longer feeling like he needed the promoter, etc. - and Oscar is not always known for his classic leadership style. Dude definitely has a bit of main character syndrome, and makes sense - his ego is what has gotten him to this level in the game, but I'm sure that can be difficult to deal with if you're the up and comer. Not to mention Oscar's myriad issues with substance abuse, rehab trips, and Canelo claiming he was trying to screw him over money wise on the business side.
Do all the details matter on why these two hate each other? Not really - but it makes for a much better, more interesting fight on Saturday in Vegas. Off the top of my head I cannot think of another situation where Canelo fought an Oscar fighter in recent history - BJ Saunders, John Ryder are under Eddie Hearn if I recall, Bivol and Golovkin not under Oscar. So this is going to be years of built up tension between the now cash cow and his former mentor.
Top storylines to watch for:
1) Will Jaime keep Canelo on the outside?
Jaime is the naturally bigger man in height and stature - most who have fought Canelo in that situation have wanted to keep him on the outside, but Jaime can punch like a lot of the other taller fighters he's gone against have not been able to. Knowing Freddie, after about round 1 he will want his fighter to get in there and really begin mixing it up Mexican style. Which brings me to storyline 2...
2) What will be the Freddie Roach impact?
This will be Jaime and Freddie's first fight together, and though they've had a long camp down in Hollywood, the first time can still be a bit awkward between fighter and trainer - kind of like the NBA teams signing all the superstars instead of trying to grow their talent from the ground up. Canelo has been with his trainers since childhood, there's something to be said for loyalty, in principle and results (think GGG career getting completely derailed after dropping Abel Sanchez as his trainer a few years back). Even if the new trainer is the greatest of his generation and fellow Dedham guy in Freddie...
3) Will Canelo be focused more on Oscar or Jaime?
Oscar could be in Canelo's head a bit - he has nothing but respect for Jaime, demonstrated by their handshake at the end of this press conference and Canelo has been vocal in the past about fellow Mexican fighters supporting one another. Oscar doing a great job of taking the pressure off his fighter here, could have an impact when that first bell sounds.
Whoever wins the brawl will win the fight - Canelo has not been hurt/buzzed in over a decade, it'll be interesting to see what Jaime can make happen in there. Gun to my head I like Jaime by decision. I still remember the first time I saw Jaime fight when he damn near killed Sadam Ali back in 2018 after Ali was coming in hot off a career defining win against an aged Miguel Cotto - first thing that came to mind was 'this dude's different'. I see Canelo struggling mightily with Jaime's size - credit to him for taking this fight, it's a battle. Munguia has a very similar body type to Bivol, who gave Canelo trouble all night two years ago, ending up in Canelo's second professional loss, granted it was a weight division up at 175 lbs.
It'll be fun either way - summer in the air, cervezas for Cinco de Mayo, electric Sartoro suits for the Derby, and an awesome boxing match to boot. What a time to be alive!
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