BN Verdict: Alvarez subdues Munguia to remind him who’s boss

In every boy’s life there comes a time when an older man – usually a father, uncle, or brother – puts his palm on top of their forehead and says to them, “Come and hit me. Give me your best picture.”
As he is a big man, with long arms, this command will usually be given by keeping the boy in the most distant place and that’s when he fights; the old man finds comfort in knowing that he is in complete control, while the boy, full of frustration and ignorance of youth, swings, feeling that he can somehow close the gap despite both the pressure of his head and his small arms.
Tonight (May 4) in Las Vegas, Jaime Munguia was probably reminded of this feeling as he tried to humiliate Saul “Canelo” Alvarez en route to a 12-round decision (scores 117-110, 116-111, and -115-112). He never gave up, despite the lack of impact and success, it was evident early on that Munguia, 43-1 (27), would be one of those kids who would continue to shape his father, uncle, or brother rather than quit. the second time they saw that the possibilities were bound.
Make no mistake, they were stacked with him tonight, too. Even when he was drafted, Munguia was portrayed as a fighter raw enough to avoid the pitfalls, and all the old tricks, and a fighter Canelo, now 33, would have fun with. He was not chosen to enhance Canelo’s legacy or threaten it, but because he ticked the boxes in terms of ethnicity – being Mexican – and style, because few fighters have a style as easily understood as Jaime Munguia.
That doesn’t mean he didn’t give anything away, mind you. In fact, credit to Munguia, he was able to do a lot with this style against Alvarez and will, thanks to his effort, undoubtedly find himself in line for other big opportunities in the future. Limited or not, he started tonight’s fight well, pushing Canelo back, and stayed true to his belief that work quality and aggression would get the job done even when the flow of action showed that this belief was perhaps too broad.
Best of all, he accepted and showed respect to his fellow man. That’s not something we can say about all of Alvarez’s opponents, by the way, but Munguia, someone who probably likes and has followed Canelo for most of his career, fought tonight like the only thing that mattered was the damage and his highly decorated striking. and respected opponent.
His inability to do so had nothing to do with lack of effort, that’s for sure. Instead, when it comes down to it, Munguia failed against Alvarez because on the evolutionary path he is still Alvarez from 10 years ago; meaning green, abundant, and full of holes. He can bring a lot of fight, and he can attack lower ranked fighters who can’t slow him down or shut him down, but against the elite, and the likes of Alvarez, a fighter needs more than just grunts and huffs, alas. This Alvarez knows, of course, he had a similar situation/lesson back in 2013, when Floyd Mayweather grabbed him at arm’s length – palm to forehead – and told him, “Come on, hit me. Give me your best shot.”
Alvarez crosses to the left (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Suffice it to say, Alvarez learned from that and quickly made great strides. As humility was overcome by defeat, he became smarter, stronger, and able to separate hype from reality. He also learned the tricks of the trade – when to strike, when to strike not punching – and I learned that there’s more to boxing than just showing up and throwing punches as hard as you can.
This was in evidence tonight, too, when he saw Munguia fall into all the same traps and waited patiently to teach him a lesson. In the fourth round, for example, you could see Alvarez mentally examining all the mistakes Munguia was making and trying to show him that even Munguia’s success was something Alvarez was giving him. The odd right hand would pass, sure, but because Alvarez had his own plans, which was made abundantly clear when, in the fourth round, Alvarez nailed Munguia with a nice right uppercut in an exchange, dropping Munguia for the first time in his cage. professional work. Now, if he did not know before, there was no doubt: Munguia did not have success, he was measured; controlled; fixed.
It’s one of the benefits of being the best, this ability to control, and it starts early. Here, for example, Canelo’s ability to dominate started from the day he decided to fight Jaime Munguia instead of, say, David Benavidez, another Mexican he was affiliated with. Even just making this choice, you see, Canelo, 61-2-2 (39), was showing his power. He was showing, also, the role that Nukullukuniya would play in the war; of the elect; that of the second fiddle.
From there, of course, Canelo then used every inch of his power and reputation to keep Munguia in check, only for Munguia to try to counter him, stick to his game plan, and maintain the belief that he was the one to deliver Canelo. back down to earth. However, because of this disobedience, and because Munguia refused to fall in line like previous opponents, Canelo went back to basics. He had to use all his physical advantages and all his wisdom and knowledge and he had to put his palm on his opponent’s forehead and say, “Come hit me. Give me your best picture.”
And to his surprise, Munguia never stopped trying.
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