The undisputed Claire Alvarez vs Jimmy Monguia 168-pound super middleweight bout has officially entered the countdown, and the two sides will kick off on May 5, Beijing time.
Monguia and Alvarez are both from Mexico, but compared to Alvarez, Monguia is more of a small character. For this reason, Monguia is also very modest, and bluntly said that Alvarez is his idol he admires. Now that Monguia is competing with his idol, he thinks it's time for Alvarez to pass the torch.
At the last press conference between the two sides, Alvarez made a commitment to knock out Monguia to win, knowing that Alvarez has not won by knockout in the next three years since knocking out Caleb Plant in 2021, and he needs to achieve a breakthrough on Monguia.
It is known that at the press conference, Alvarez clashed with the former promoter "Golden Boy" Oscar de la Hoya, so that he focused his main energy on dealing with Hoya, and instead snubbed Monguia, making the rivalry between the two sides a "companion".
Monguia didn't care about the dispute between Alvarez and Hoya, he was more focused, and he focused on only one goal - Alvarez.
"Outside of the ring, Alvarez got all the respect I had, but when I got into the ring, that respect disappeared and that's what is going to happen this week, when we meet in the ring, it's going to be a war," Monguia said. ”
As for Alvarez wanting to knock him out, Monguia said he was glad that he had that mindset and also promised to knock Alvarez out as well.
"I like Alvarez to think like that, I want him to take me down, but I came with the same mentality, thinking the same as Alvarez, only the other way around, I'm going to knock Alvarez down, it's a great fight, you never know what's going to happen," Monguia said. ”
In this competition, Monguia has a secret weapon in addition to age and hardware advantages, that is, coach Freddy Roach, this is the second game after Monguia and Roach cooperated, in the first game, Monguia was extremely sharp under the guidance of Roach, knocking down the British tough guy John Ryder many times, you must know that Alvarez has not done it.
Roach's experience and coaching ability are evident to all, as exemplified by the creation of Manny Pacquiao, who has indeed improved a lot from the confrontation between Monguia and Red, so he is likely to pose a threat to Alvarez under Roche's leadership.
"It's great to train with Roach, he's a good coach and a great person," Monguia said. We've done a lot in training camp and it's been fantastic, and you'll see everything we've learned on the night of the fight, and the fans will be excited. ”
Given that Monguia and Alvarez both promised to knock out their opponents, some fans said: "There's a good show to watch!" However, former two-division champion Paul Marinaji believes that despite Monguia's advantage, Alvarez is still more certain of victory at this stage of their careers. Marinagi admits that this match came a year earlier for Monguia than Alvarez, who was declining, so he could not improve himself effectively.
Marinagui wrote in his column: "Monguia is more aggressive, and I'm curious about his offensive and defensive abilities, as well as his ability to execute coach Roach's tactics in this contest. If Monguia opens wide after attacking, Alvarez will take advantage of that. Alvarez still has the power and sense of timing. Can Monguia overwhelm Alvarez? Or will Alvarez slow down Monguia? If it's the former, the question is how much Alvarez has left, and how much effort is he willing to put in?
Alvarez is slipping and Monguia looks like they still have a year to improve, which is part of the reason why I'm bullish on Alvarez, the scores will be close, but Alvarez will come out on top.