Jaime Munguia is gearing up to dethrone pound-for-pound great Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez at the weekend and claim the undisputed super-middleweight title. However, the 43-0 brawler and his coach are seemingly not just intent on stripping Canelo of his belts, instead admitting that Munguia is aiming to become the first fighter to knock Canelo out.
Alvarez has never been dropped in the ring but a string of four below-par displays, including a first loss in almost nine years, has convinced many fans that his time at the peak of the sport is coming to an end, with others feeling that Munguia could be the man to complete the changing of the guard.
Only two of Canelo’s previous opponents (Shane Mosley and Gennady Golovkin) have stepped through the ropes to face Alvarez with more knockout wins than Munguia (34) and a recent demolition job over John Ryder, who lasted the distance with Canelo, proves that his power and killer instinct is serious.
On the Premier Boxing Champions YouTube channel, Munguia looked ahead to the contest and declared his intentions of taking the fight to Canelo, rather than following the blueprint of Dmitry Bivol and sticking and jabbing.
“It is going to be an interesting fight, it is going to be a tough fight, that is for sure. We are going to come after him, we are going to look for him and, in the end, what is going to matter the most is that it is going to be an amazing fight for everybody to witness.”
“The main thing is that you have got to be careful [against Canelo], you can’t get over-confident. It is going to be a very mental fight, where we have got to pick our spots and we have got to ensure that we are being very aware of what we do inside of the ring. If we do that we are going to be fine.”
This will be Munguia’s second fight under legendary trainer Freddie Roach, the first being the arguable career-best performance against Ryder, and Roach added that he is also going to be looking for a knockout on Saturday night.
“He has been great, he works really hard and we work harder every day. We have got a couple more days to go and we are going to be ready.
“I am looking for a knockout, yes, and I think that he [Jaime] is also.”
Canelo’s fabled chin is continuously lauded as one of the best in the sport but there is a first time for everything and the intense pressure of Munguia could prove difficult for the often one-paced undisputed champion. In what is sure to be both a thrilling and tactical battle, fans will find out whether it is time to pass the torch on Saturday night, live on DAZN PPV.
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