When Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez (60-2-2, 39 KOs) takes on Jaime Munguía (43-0, 34 KOs) on May 4, it will be his first time facing a Mexican opponent in nearly seven years.
The two fighters meet in the main event of a Premier Boxing Champions PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV. Fight fans can purchase the card from Prime Video, DAZN and PPV.com. The clash will see Canelo defend his status as undisputed super middleweight champion for a fourth time.
The last time Canelo faced a Mexican in the ring was on Cinco de Mayo weekend in 2017. On that night, he took on Julio César Chávez Jr., son of the legendary fighter Julio César Chávez. In anticipation of Canelo’s bout against Munguía, Big Fight Weekend goes down memory lane to the last time the Guadalajara native took on a fellow Mexican boxer.
The last time Canelo fought a Mexican
The announcement
On Jan. 13, 2017, Canelo confirmed via Twitter (now X) that he would be facing Chávez in a 164.5-lb catch-weight bout on May 6 of that year. The announcement was massive as the fight pitted two of the biggest stars of modern Mexican boxing against each other. On the one hand, Canelo was a two-division world champion at the time who had featured in several high profile title fights going into the clash. A former middleweight champion himself, Chávez’s career was always in the spotlight due to his famous father.
The fight, set to take place at the T-Mobile Arena, was an HBO PPV and anxiously awaited. Both men shared an animosity towards the other and the bout was expected to be an all-out war. Despite concerns that Chávez would not make weight, those fears were put to bed as the former champion came in below the agreed upon limit.
The fight
While many expected the two Mexican fighters to go toe-to-toe, things panned out quite differently. With more than 20,000 in attendance, Canelo outclassed his opponent en route to a unanimous decision victory. All three judges had the fight 120-108 in favour of him. While Canelo never came close to getting a knockdown, Chávez was unable to match the activity of the future undisputed champion. Big Fight Weekend’s Dan Rafael, writing for ESPN at the time, described it as “one of the most one-sided big fights to go the distance in recent boxing history.”
“Tonight I showed I could move, I could box, I showed as a fighter I can do all things,” said Canelo through a translator after the fight. “I thought I was going to showcase myself as a fighter that could throw punches, but he just wouldn’t do it. I’ve shown I can do lots of things in the ring, anything a fighter brings – I’ve shown I can showcase myself. I wanted to try something new, I never sit down in sparring and I didn’t want to sit here.”
Canelo has since gone on to achieve much more. Between then and now, he became unified at middleweight, a light heavyweight titlist and is currently the undisputed super middleweight champion. On May 4, fight fans will finally get to see him in yet another all-Mexican clash.
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