As predicted, Canelo Alvarez sailed through his fight against Jaime Munguia. Mostly. Despite Munguia’s aggression in the early rounds, ‘Cinnamon’ figured out Munguia’s game and defeated him via unanimous decision after dropping him in the fourth. Despite that, Floyd Mayweather’s uncle Jeff Mayweather seems to have pinpointed some kinks in Canelo’s armor. 

After Canelo defended his super middleweight titles for the fourth time at T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas on the Cinco De Mayo weekend, Fight Hype caught up with Jeff Mayweather to get his thoughts on Canelo’s performance. While Jeff saw the outcome coming from a mile away, he didn’t think Canelo would get hit as much! 

Jeff Mayweather thought Canelo Alvarez was toying with prior opponents

Speaking to Jeff, the reporter asked, “When you said, ‘he didn’t look that great,’ was it just he looked kind of rusty or sluggish in the beginning and it kind of picked up?” So, Jeff explained, “Don’t get me wrong, I think that all these other fights that he’s been taking since he fought a really good fighter, it seems like he was just toying with him.”

Jeff added that because of Canelo’s easy fights before, “this fight with Munguia looked like we had a real fight.” But wait, there’s more. When the reporter asked if Canelo ever looked in any serious danger of losing the battle, Jeff said, “No, it’s just the fact that he got hit more than I thought he would.” 

Further elaborating, ‘Jazzy’ explained, “Early on, [it] looked like [Munguia] had a chance to win the fight. But once [Canelo started] going back to the old Canelo, we [saw] that all of a sudden, everything started to change.” Regardless! Think about this for a minute. What’s next for Canelo? David Benavidez, right? But it’s not that simple because Canelo has an objection. 

Canelo isn’t giving the fight until he gets what he wants

With yet another win under his belt or belts, at this point, Canelo chatted with well respected, well-known sports presenter Jim Gray during an interview post-fight. And, of course, the question was about the Benavidez fight, no surprise there. So, Canelo answered, “I don’t know right now. I’m gonna rest, I’m gonna enjoy my family.”

Hold up, he wasn’t finished, Canelo explained, “But if the money is right, I can fight right now. I don’t give a s***. I fought with everybody, they said I’m not gonna fight, I fought all of them. So right now, I can do whatever I want.” Interestingly, right as the interview came to a close, something happened. Benavidez, who was ringside, finally came face to face with Canelo. And as one would guess, they exchanged some not so friendly words. 

Even with this surprise squabble, as sad as it is, fans may never get to see the fight. Why? First, Benavidez has a fight against Oleksandr Gvozdyk at 175 lbs planned for June. And second, someone has to offer Canelo $200 million for the fight to happen. 

At the end of the day, regardless of whether Canelo looked sluggish, the important thing is he got the job done. However, does that mean Canelo can beat Benavidez? Who knows! Maybe he can, maybe he can’t—only time will tell. Until then, what’s your hot take on the fight? Can 2024 Canelo beat 2024 Benavidez?