Dsalita Canelo Alvarez’s next fight isn’t totally official yet, but it’s looking close to being a done deal to face Jaime Munguia on May 4 in Las Vegas.
Mike Coppinger of ESPN.com is reporting that a deal is being “finalized,” which will see Canelo stay with Premier Boxing Champions for at least this bout on a one-fight deal. Amazon’s Prime Video will carry the pay-per-view, as will DAZN, Salvador Rodriguez reports.
Canelo (60-2-2, 39 KO) will defend his undisputed super middleweight championship against Munguia (43-0, 34 KO), a former 154 lb titleholder who has been a contender since at both 160 and 168.
Related
Bet on Joshua vs Ngannou and more boxing with DraftKings Sportsbook!
The fight will gain its share of criticism, as the general sentiment is that Canelo, 33, should be fighting David Benavidez (28-0, 24 KO), a former two-time WBC titleholder at 168 who has been “interim” champion since 2022. Benavidez beat Caleb Plant and Demetrius Andrade convincingly last year, and has become one of the hottest rising stars in the sport.
But if Benavidez is going to happen, it won’t be next, and it may not be at 168, as in the meantime, Benavidez is planning a move up to light heavyweight to face Oleksandr Gvozdyk for an interim WBC belt at 175.
The promotional/broadcast situation with Canelo is one unique to one of legitimate boxing’s few actual drawing cards. Alvarez inked a three-fight deal with PBC last year, but appeared set to move on after just one bout, only to work out this one-fight deal with the company, who will make their Prime Video debut on March 30 with the Keith Thurman vs Tim Tszyu pay-per-view, and have been out of action since December.
All companies want to work with Canelo, though, and if the deals can be made, he will go where the money is. Allowing DAZN to broadcast the pay-per-view on top of Prime may have been the ideal move for all parties, and is another thing that speaks to his drawing power.
Munguia, 27, fought on Jan. 27, stopping John Ryder in the ninth round in Phoenix. He scored a Fight of the Year-level win over Sergiy Derevyanchenko in his lone fight of 2023.
