Analyst Tim Bradley claims that Canelo Alvarez was forced into the fight with Jaime Munguia as part of his contract with Premier Boxing Champions [PBC].
(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Premier Boxing Champions)
Bradley says Canelo didn’t want to fight Munguia (43-0, 34 KOs) and have to deal with his old promoters at Golden Boy, but he had to because PBC got the deal with Amazon Prime because of him.
PBC needed Canelo to fight Munguia to “Hit it out of the park” with their new deal with them. Munguia is the “hot” fighter after his ninth-round knockout win over John Ryder, even though hardcore boxing fans know that Canelo “softened” him up last year.
The PBC-Amazon Angle
“He’s fighting Munguia because he was forced to. He didn’t want to do business with Golden Boy, but he was forced to do it because of the money,” said boxing expert Tim Bradley to Fight Hub TV about how he believes Canelo Alvarez was forced to fight Jaime Munguia as part of his three-fight contract with PBC.
With the money PBC is paying Canelo, they needed him to fight a big name, and if it wasn’t Munguia, the only other guy is David Benavidez.
Canelo doesn’t seem interested in fighting him. It was the least bad alternative that Canelo wound up taking, fighting Munguia rather than facing the much larger Benavidez.
“The big thing going on with Amazon Prime, all of that. They [Premier Boxing Champions] got Amazon Prime because of Canelo. ‘We need you to fight somebody because we need to hit it out of the park,’” said Bradley.
A Hot Prospect and a Strategic Match
“Munguia is that guy, he’s hot. He’s coming in flaming off the victory over Ryder, and everybody is comparing that victory. ‘Well, you didn’t stop him.’ We all know that Canelo softened him up. However, Munguia was still able to get it,” said Bradley.
Obviously, Munguia isn’t a great talent, but he’s been matched to make him look like gold, but he’s the fake variety. He almost lost to 38-year-old Sergiy Derevyanchenko, and even with the knockdown Munguia scored in the 12th, many boxing fans still had him losing.
“Then you put Freddie Roach in there as well. That makes it even a bigger spectacle, and how Freddie Roach sees and how Freddie Roach is talking. He’s going to talk his talk. ‘He’s [Canelo] older now, he’s not the same. He’s this, he’s that,’” said Bradley.
“It’s going to be a great entertaining fight. Munguia is young as well. He’s a young bull, he’s strong as well, he’s hungry, he’s determined. It’s going to be the best Munguia. Canelo, he knows he’s got to turn up and show out,” said Bradley.
Trainer Freddie Roach will have studied Canelo’s losses to Dmitry Bivol and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Well. The game plan that he’ll have for Munguia will be a copy of what those two fighters used against Canelo, and it might work.
“If he gets that W, it’s going to look good on his resume. He’s going to say, ‘Guys, what more do you want me to do? I just fought a young bull.” It’s not Benavidez. However, I’ll give Canelo credit for fighting this young bull,” said Bradley.
