SEATTLE - In the first-ever super middleweight title fight featuring two Mexican fighters, Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez was the one that came out on top, defeating Jaime Munguía by unanimous decision to preserve his undisputed title. Before today, there had never been a world title fight featuring two Mexican-born fighters above the 160-pound division.
Munguía started the fight with tremendous energy, winning two of the first three rounds. It took Canelo four rounds to assert his gameplan, knocking down Munguía with 30 seconds left in the fourth. It was the third fight in a row in which Canelo scored a knockdown after he dropped Jermell Charlo and John Ryder in his previous two fights.
Ever since that fourth round, Munguía knew he had to knockout Álvarez in order to win. Using all the experience gained in countless title fights, Canelo started to push Munguía back with power punches to the lower body. Even though Álvarez seemed to be in control of the fight, Munguía still out-landed Canelo 57-56 after four rounds.
By the sixth round, Munguía became more selected with his punches but Álvarez' right-handed counters took the steam out of the young challenger.
By the start of the eight round, Munguía seemed to catch a second breath of fresh air and countered Canelo's jab with nice combinations that pushed Álvarez against the ropes.
But even though Munguía put pressure on the undisputed champion between the eight and ninth rounds, Canelo controlled the tail-end of the bout, landing 33 of his 59 power shots in the 10th and 11th.
With three minutes to go, Álvarez used all his experience to close down the fight. With results of 117-110, 116-111 and 115-112, the judges gave Canelo his third consecutive decision win and improved to 61-2-2 in his professional career.
After a very shaky start through three rounds, Canelo dominated the bout landing at least 10 power punches per round until the end of the fight.
Despite being Munguía's biggest fight of his career, the Tijuana native did not disappoint and gave his best shot at the champion. He threw 100 punches more than Canelo but only landed 25% of them, compared to Canelo's more selective approach, landing 43% of his 536 punches in the night.
5/4 PBC on Amazon- Alvarez W 12 Munguia. Canelo's power and accuracy carried the action to Munguia, who fought a spirited fight, landing 14 of 55 punches, to 20 of 45 for Canelo,who landed 50% of his power punches. #CanelovsMunguia pic.twitter.com/UJr0dwvyqO
— CompuBox (@CompuBox) May 5, 2024
As Álvarez was announced the winner, he didn't hold back and sent a message to his critics saying that, if the money is right, he is willing to fight anybody at any time.
Nothing but respect 🇲🇽@Canelo speaks on @jaimemunguia15 after getting the win.#CaneloMunguia pic.twitter.com/XcFoxYB9qp
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) May 5, 2024
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