Canelo Alvarez has reportedly made his choice for a next opponent after parting ways with Premier Boxing Champions, and ESPN Knockout report that Canelo will face fellow Mexican Jaime Munguia on Saturday, May 4.
The fight would almost surely be a DAZN pay-per-view, with Canelo returning to the platform where he’s had all but two of his last 11 fights, dating back to late 2018.
The 33-year-old Canelo (60-2-2, 39 KO) would be defending his undisputed super middleweight championship against the 27-year-old Munguia (43-0, 34 KO), who is a former super welterweight titleholder and has been impressive in wins over Sergiy Derevyanchenko and John Ryder at 168.
Alvarez signed a three-fight deal with Premier Boxing Champions last year, but only did one of the bouts, a September win over Jermell Charlo. The talk had recently been that Canelo would face Jermall Charlo next on May 4, but the belief is that PBC simply don’t have the money on hand now to guarantee Canelo’s money demands, and that a fight with Jermall would not have been something PBC were confident in as a return on the investment.
PBC lost their last TV deal when Paramount pulled Showtime Sports from the boxing game at the end of 2023, and the company signed a deal to produce shows for Amazon’s Prime Video outlet, which at this point appears it will be pay-per-view exclusive. They’ve run no events on the streaming service, and their first comes on March 30.
The shake-up with PBC has clearly resulted in major outlook changes for the brand, and Canelo Alvarez appears to be a luxury they simply can’t afford at this moment.
Alvarez, of course, is boxing’s biggest money-generator still, and he will be welcomed back with open arms by DAZN and most likely wind up working with promoter Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing, with whom he’s had a tremendous relationship after parting ways in an acrimonious split with Golden Boy a few years back.
A fight with Munguia, who is a Golden Boy fighter, could be co-promoted with Golden Boy, or they could, in theory, be left out or step aside, even if only technically so — as in, not involved with the promotion, their logo not on the poster, and so on.
There’s no love lost between Alvarez and Oscar De La Hoya, but also remember that this is boxing. There was no love lost between De La Hoya and promoter Bob Arum, either, and they wound up burying the hatchet eventually. In this sport, if it makes money, grudges go away.
Canelo vs Munguia is currently expected to be finalized in the coming days. Edgar Berlanga, who just won this past weekend, was reportedly the other name in the mix for the May 4 date.