Oscar De La Hoya hopes Jaime Munguia can challenge Canelo Alvarez as soon as possible.
Munguia’s co-promoter and Alvarez’s former promoter predicted late Saturday night, though, that he expects Alvarez to fight Jermall Charlo on May 4. If Alvarez indeed faces another Charlo twin in his next pay-per-view main event, “The Golden Boy” believes the undisputed super middleweight champion will dominate Jermall Charlo as easily as Alvarez defeated his brother, Jermell, to set up an all-Mexican showdown with Munguia in September.
De La Hoya discussed an Alvarez-Munguia fight following Munguia’s impressive ninth-round stoppage of British southpaw John Ryder on Saturday night at Footprint Center in Phoenix. Tijuana’s Munguia (43-0, 34 KOs) dropped London’s Ryder (32-7, 18 KOs) four times – once apiece in the second and fourth rounds and twice during the ninth round – before referee Wes Melton stopped their scheduled 12-round, 168-pound bout at 1:25 of the ninth round.
“I’m excited for Jaime’s future,” De La Hoya. “I’m excited that he did make a statement. And now the possibilities of him fighting the king, which he calls himself, Canelo Alvarez, that’s the fight to make. September, [it] is the fight to make with Canelo Alvarez. And all of you, hopefully, can push that. Everyone can push that. That’s the fight, an all-Mexican showdown in September of this year. Imagine that. Statement made.”
An Alvarez-Munguia matchup would excite Mexican boxing fans whether it took place May 4, the day before Cinco de Mayo, or September 14, just prior to Mexican Independence Day. The only reason, according to De La Hoya, that he feels Alvarez-Munguia could take place seven months from now, rather than in three months, is because the retired six-division champion anticipates Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KOs) facing Jermall Charlo (33-0, 22 KOs) next in the second fight of his three-bout agreement with Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions.
De La Hoya also expressed that David Benavidez deserves his much-discussed shot at Alvarez’s IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO titles. The Golden Boy Promotions founder considers Benavidez a friend, but he’ll understandably push for Munguia to get his lucrative fight versus Alvarez first.
“I believe Canelo is gonna fight Charlo again, I believe in May,” De La Hoya said in what was an odd reference to a completely unnecessary Alvarez-Jermell Charlo rematch. “That’s what I heard. Can somebody uh – oh, he’s fighting the brother. … So, I’m thinking, OK, Canelo’s gonna walk right through him and hopefully it can set up an all-Mexican showdown for September. We haven’t seen an all-Mexican showdown at an elite level since Erik Morales-[Marco Antonio] Barrera, [Juan Manuel] Marquez, you know? I’m a gringo. I’m a gringo. [Julio Cesar] Chavez-De La Hoya wasn’t considered all-Mexican.”
Putting together an Alvarez-Munguia fight would again require De La Hoya’s company to work with Haymon’s PBC.
Despite the contentious history between Haymon and De La Hoya, they partnered on the high-profile Gervonta Davis-Ryan Garcia fight last April 22 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The bout between Baltimore’s Davis, who won by seventh-round knockout, and Garcia generated $22.8 million in ticket revenue and a reported 1.2 million pay-per-view buys.
An Alvarez-Benavidez bout would do big business as well. Phoenix’s Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs) is the WBC’s interim 168-pound champion and is a more proven opponent for Alvarez, but Guadalajara’s Alvarez likely sees Munguia as a less threatening challenger than Benavidez.
The 33-year-old Alvarez dropped Jermell Charlo in the seventh round and easily won their fight on points September 30 at T-Mobile Arena. Jermell Charlo (35-2-1, 19 KOs), a Houston native and former undisputed 154-pound champion, moved up two weight classes to battle Alvarez.
Jermall Charlo, the long-reigning WBC middleweight champion, came in at 166½ pounds, 3½ pounds over the contracted catch weight of 163 pounds, for his last fight – a 10-round, unanimous-decision defeat of Jose Benavidez Jr. (28-3-1, 19 KOs) on November 25 in Las Vegas. Charlo-Benavidez was the co-feature before David Benavidez stopped Demetrius Andrade (32-1, 19 KOs) in the sixth round of their Showtime Pay-Per-View main event at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino’s Michelob ULTRA Arena.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.