Jaime Munguia Continues Parlaying Canelo Alvarez Sweepstakes, Fights Again This Saturday

Jaime Munguia has played this Canelo Sweepstakes thing right.

Unlike other Canelo opponents, who have taken their B-side payout and drifted off into inactivity and/or permanent opponent status, Munguia is parlaying his loss to the Mexican cash cow into actually building his brand.

It certainly didn’t hurt his upward post-Canelo trajectory that– unlike some– he registered a spirited effort in that high profile loss, actually fighting to win rather than fighting to stay healthy enough to enjoy the bag of loot dropped at his feet.

People noticed that he went all-out and have not written him off in the way they’ve written off past sweepstakes winners like Jermell Charlo.

And in the few brief months since the Canelo fight, he’s changed trainers, moving back to Erik Morales from Freddie Roach (who briefly replace Morales) and he’s switched promoters (from Golden Boy to Top Rank).

Both moves have been shrewd investments in future building for the 28-year-old.

Bringing former trainer Morales back into the mix adds comfort to training camp and it certainly doesn’t hurt his marketability among hardcore Mexican fans to have a verified Mexican boxing legend walk him to the ring.

The move to Top Rank is also proving to be a smart career decision. Golden Boy had nothing big for him and no path to another big money bout. Under Top Rank, however, he’s being eased into an interim super middleweight war with the all-action Christian Mbilli, who is also promoted by the Bob Arum-founded company. The Munguia-Mbilli bout was just ordered by the WBC at their annual convention. If victorious, there is a path for Munguia to get a second crack at a Canelo money fight, but this time with more experience under his belt against an Alvarez a bit further past his prime.

This Saturday, the Tijuana native returns home for his fourth bout of 2024 and his second since dropping the unanimous decision to Alvarez in May.

Not much needs to be said of Munguia’s opponent, Bruno Surace, who is there to lose– and, specifically, to lose in spectacular fashion. The Frenchman has an inflated paper record of 25-0-2, but is a converted middleweight with zero power (only 4 KOs) and no experience against world class opposition. In his last five fight, his opponents’ combined record is 42-58-6. Before his last five fights, his level of opposition was even more dubious.

But, again, this is Munguia’s fourth fight this year, coming off a tenth round KO of Erik Bazinyan in September and preceded by the Canelo fight and a ninth round TKO of John Ryder. If anyone is entitled to a “gimme” blowout and highlight reel fodder, it’s Munguia.

And that leads to another thing Munguia’s doing absolutely right, post-Canelo. He’s staying active and keeping himself in the public eye. Going from the biggest stage in the sport and staying in the forefront of boxing fandom’s collective hive mind is just Good Boxing Marketing 101.

All in all, whether this was a carefully laid out plan or just lucky happenstance, Munguia’s in a better spot as a fighter, both commercially and competitively, than he was before the Canelo fight.

And, assuming he keeps winning, he’s likely to be even a bigger star in this second rise to prominence.