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A critical look at the past week in boxing
BIGGEST WINNER
Canelo Alvarez
Alvarez probably isn’t the best fighter in the world pound-for-pound, as he suggested after his one-sided decision over Jaime Munguia on Saturday in Las Vegas. That nod goes to Terence Crawford (Boxing Junkie’s No. 1) or Naoya Inoue these days.
The 33-year-old Mexican star is making a strong case that news of his decline is premature, however.
Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs) looked like a fading fighter in his loss to Dmitry Bivol in 2022 and sluggish victories over Gennadiy Golovkin and John Ryder that followed. He looked a lot more like the old sharpshooting Alvarez in decisions over Jermell Charlo and now Munguia.
What was the difference? He’s healthy. His surgically repaired left wrist, which dogged him through is worst performances, is now 100%.
He certainly looked to be near his best against Munguia, who unloaded a lot of punches but couldn’t pierce Alvarez’s secure defense consistently enough to make the fight close. And Alvarez, who throws fewer punches but makes them count, landed almost at will. He landed 49.7% of his power punches, according to CompuBox.
The result was arguably Alvarez’s best performance since he dominated Callum Smith in 2020, one that certainly maintains his membership in the exclusive pound-for-pound club.
However, it’s important not to get carried away. Impressive victories over Charlo and Munguia carry limited weight because the former moved up two divisions for the fight and Munguia is still developing. Even Alvarez alluded to a glaring weakness on the part of the latter after the fight.
“He’s strong, but he’s a little slow. I can see every punch [coming],” Alvarez said.
Alvarez has one obvious way of proving beyond doubt that he is the same fighter who climbed to the top of many pound-for-pound lists and remained there for years: Beating David Benavidez, a formidable fighter many believe he has been ducking.
He was asked again after his victory over Munguia whether he’d be willing to finally face Benavidez, who is scheduled to take on Oleksandr Gvozdyk at 175 pounds on June 15.
Alvarez made it clear that he would do so if the money is right, meaning he demands that his payday be commensurate with the risk
