Jaime Munguia 43-0 (34) might be a longshot underdog, but not everybody believes he has no chance against undisputed super middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez 60-2-2 (39) at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada this Saturday night.
Retired former world champion turned pundit Chris Algieri says that the 27-year-old Munguia will have a real shot at dethroning fellow Mexican Alvarez, 33, if he sticks to a disciplined game plan.
Alvarez is undefeated at 168-pounds since moving into the weight class in 2018 and unifying the WBC, WBA, WBO and IBF titles. Munguia will be having his first shot at a world title at the weight after previously holding the WBO junior middleweight title five years ago.
Both Alvarez and Munguia started their pro careers around 140-pound mark and have naturally moved up in weight as their bodies have filled out. And despite Alvarez having made a home for himself at super middleweight for longer, it will be Munguia who will be the bigger man in the ring come fight night.
The only loss on Alvarez’s record since his majority decision loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr more than a decade ago came against WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol 22-0 (11) via unanimous decision in their 175-pound bout two years ago.
Algieri believes Munguia’s youth and physicality could spell a tough night for Alvarez, who has much more wear and tear on his body after an almost 20 year pro career.
“I’m getting a funny feeling that Jaime Munguia might be able to pull this off. Youth is a big thing, and he’s not just youthful. He’s got a lot of fights, so he’s got a lot of experience,” Algieri said to Probox TV.
“He’s got a great engine. He throws a ton of punches, he’s tough as nails and he doesn’t mind getting hit and going forward and going through the resistance put up by Canelo. Plus, he’s really big for the weight class.
“He’s tall. Canelo is shorter than me. He’s not a big 168-pounder and he’s going to have to deal with a tall, long fighter in front of him. If there was ever a blueprint for how to beat Canelo Alvarez, Dmitry Bivol showed us.
“He kept a jab in Canelo’s face. Canelo doesn’t like jabs. Floyd Mayweather used a jab to beat him and Sergey Kovalev gave Canelo a lot of trouble because he has a very underrated jab that sets up those power shots.
“Number two, set a pace. Number three, mixing offence and defence together and making that seamless. Canelo likes that high guard defense. If you keep touching that and keeping those hands at home, it takes away a lot of those counter-punching opportunities for Canelo.”
A Munguia victory is not an impossible task, but if the result does go his way, expect the fight to be on the shortlist for Upset of the Year.