- Munguia took the WBA super middleweight title 119-109, 119-109, 118-110 — a proper redemption performance
- Canelo Alvarez watched from ringside and shouted encouragement — September date now has a real Mexican-on-Mexican option
- Eddy Reynoso has trained Munguia all camp — the same Reynoso who still corners Canelo. The optics are interesting
Right then — Sunday morning, T-Mobile Arena is being broken down, the Cinco de Mayo banners are coming off the rigging, and the headline that ought to be running across every Mexican boxing front page reads as follows. Jaime Munguia has the WBA super middleweight title back home in Tijuana, and the man who took it off him in May 2024 — Saul "Canelo" Alvarez — was at ringside on Saturday night shouting encouragement and hugging him after the cards were read. Make no mistake, that's a story.
The fight itself was the Munguia we wanted to see in the Canelo first time around. Patient with the lead hand, working the body from the second round, mixing up the angles by the fifth, and not falling in love with the right hand the way he did in 2024. Resendiz, to his credit, never stopped throwing — the man was 0 for 38 by my count on his straight right by round nine, but he kept shipping it down the pipe. The corner did right by him to send him out for the championship rounds. He took every one of them on the chin.
Why The Performance Mattered More Than The Belt
Let's not beat around the bush — the WBA super middleweight strap is the third-tier piece in the division behind the WBC Canelo straps and the IBF strap. The strap isn't the prize. The prize is the resume line that says "regained a piece in the same division he lost in twenty months ago." That's the line that gets Munguia into the September conversation.
Reynoso has trained him all camp. The same Reynoso who still has Canelo on the books. The footage of the two corners hugging in the centre of the ring at the final bell — that wasn't theatre. That was Reynoso effectively saying to anyone watching, "I run both these camps, and I can deliver this fight for September if you want it." The Saudi pencil-sharpeners were watching. Hearn was watching. PBC was watching. Everyone was watching.
The September Lane — What Has To Happen
Here's the route, in order. First, Canelo's WBC defence — the September date — has been a moving target for six weeks. The Crawford 2027 Riyadh play means September can't be Crawford. Benavidez is now at cruiserweight, off the table. Munguia, with a fresh strap, fresh momentum, and the Cinco de Mayo Vegas date on the resume, is suddenly the cleanest available name.
Second, the Munguia camp has to actually want it. That's not a given. The 2024 Canelo loss was a chastening night — the first half of that fight Munguia looked overmatched in a way he'd never looked before. Walking back into the ring with the same man eighteen months on, even if you've added a strap and a trainer, takes a particular kind of stomach. What I'd say is this — the team-Reynoso conversation will decide it. If Reynoso says the Canelo of 2026 is a different physical animal to the Canelo of 2024 — which, given the Crawford camp prep he's been on, is probably true — then the door opens.
Watch The Quotes Over The Next Forty-Eight Hours
Three quotes to watch for. From Canelo himself — anything beyond "great fight, congratulations" tells you he wants the rematch. He's been very pointed in the past about not running the same opponent twice unless the money is silly. From Munguia, watch for either "I'd love it" (yes, the rematch is on) or "I want the unification with the IBF/WBC winner" (no, he wants the third strap, not the rematch). From Reynoso, watch for any reference to "two of my fighters" — that means he's already booked the negotiation room for next week.
The Saudi end of this — and there's always a Saudi end now — is straightforward. Alalshikh has already said he wants the Canelo September date in Vegas, not Riyadh, to keep the Mexican Independence Day weekend tradition. He's prepared to put the purse on the table. The undercard is the Riyadh Season opener tease — any of Moses Itauma's next fight, the Nicolson rematch, the Mason title fight. Three names, all already on Saudi-aligned promoter books. The infrastructure is there.
The Pick I'd Make If The Fight Lands
Different Munguia in 2026. Different Reynoso plan. Different Canelo too — the Crawford prep has him at his most cerebral, but it's also the version of him most likely to coast a decision rather than chase a stoppage. If the fight lands in September I make Canelo a 4/6 favourite, but I make Munguia a much closer dog than the 2024 line of 8/1. Twelve rounds, decision Canelo, but a competitive one. 116-112, 115-113, 116-112 type of card. Not the wide one we got first time round.
What I would not predict — and where I think the bookies will get the line wrong — is the round count. The 2024 fight was tactical because Canelo had Munguia gun-shy from the third onwards. This time round, with Reynoso having walked Munguia through every Canelo tendency in the book over the last twelve months, you get a much more even-paced fight that won't see a stoppage in either direction. Twelve hard rounds, championship rounds done in the trenches, and a respectful hug at the final bell.
One last thought — this is exactly the kind of weekend that makes Mexican boxing what it is. Cinco de Mayo, T-Mobile Arena, Munguia winning a title back, Canelo at ringside, Reynoso in both corners. The story tells itself. If the September fight gets made on the back of it, that's the kind of bookend the era deserves. Keep your eyes on the Reynoso quotes Monday morning. That's where the truth will sit.