Boxing legend Shane Mosley thinks Canelo Alvarez is using Jaime Munguia as a “tune-up” to prepare him for a bigger fight against David Benavidez.
As Mosley points out, the six-foot Munguia (43-0, 34 KOs) is now a full-fledged 168-pounder and can prepare Canelo (60-2-2, 39 KOs) for Benavidez, who resembles a “cruiserweight” after he rehydrates for his fights.
Mosley worries that once Benavidez begins fighting at light heavyweight, the chances of a match between him and Canelo will be lost if he can’t come back down.
Canelo would have to come up in weight to 175 to make the fight with Benavidez, and he may not want to do that after the bad experience he had the last time he fought in that division in 2022 against Dmitry Bivol.
This Saturday, May 4th, Canelo will defend his undisputed super middleweight championship against Munguia at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Munguia: A Tough Warm-Up Act
“To bypass Benavidez to fight Munguia, we all think Benavidez is the bigger fight. Everyone wants to see that fight just to see how good Canelo is and how good Benavidez is,” said Shane Mosley to Fight Hub TV.
“This fight [Canelo vs. Munguia] seems almost like a tune-up to the real fight if he’s ever going to fight Benavidez. If David Benavidez goes up to light heavyweight and says, ‘Forget all of it,’ then we’ve just lost a big fight. He looks like a cruiserweight anyway when he gets in the ring.”
Canelo-Munguia seems like a tune-up for the Benavidez match, but it might not be, given that Canelo is talking about wanting 150-200 million for that clash. Unless Canelo changes his mind about wanting that kind of dough, it doesn’t seem that we’ll be seeing that fight next.
Benavidez is going in a direction right now, fighting in a WBC light heavyweight title eliminator against Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15th, and if he wins that fight, he could battle for the undisputed championship at 175. There’s a lot of money that Benavidez can make fighting the winner of the Dmitry Bivol vs. Artur Beterbiev match.
Can Munguia Do a Bivol 2.0? Mosley Has Doubts
“I’ve seen him throw punches in bunches, and that could have Canelo bewildered maybe by blocking shots instead of throwing back,” said Mosley on whether Munguia can beat Canelo by using volume punching the way that WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol did in his win over the Mexican star in 2022.
“Munguia is taller about the same size as Bivol, so it could work. Is his footwork as fast as Bivol’s? That’s another thing. If his footwork isn’t as fast as Bivol’s, then that might be a problem. I don’t think his footwork is as fast, and that might be a problem. But he [Munguia] is bigger now, he’s a full-fledged 168-pounder now. That could help him out,” said Mosley about Munguia.
Bivol has better footwork than Munguia. It’s not realistic that Munguia will be able to move the way Bivol did to hit and run against Canelo on Saturday night. Even with trainer Freddie Roach having made improvements in Munguia’s game, he’s not going to replicate Bivol’s fighting style.
