Canelo Alvarez is declining and ‘just bullies’ opponents now, he could get beaten by ‘handful’ Jaime Munguia

George Groves believes Jaime Munguia could be a potential banana skin for Canelo Alvarez.

The undisputed super-middleweight champion faces Munguia on May 4 in Las Vegas with all four of his major sanctioning body belts on the line.

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Canelo opens up as a moderate favourite with the bookies and comes into the fight fresh off a solid win against super-welterweight king Jermell Charlo.

Meanwhile, Munguia, a former WBO super-welterweight world champion, has impressed since moving up to 168lbs, recording decent wins over former world title challengers John Ryder and Sergiy Derevyanchenko in his first two fights at the weight.

Despite his obvious quality, many members of the boxing fraternity have written Munguia off.

But Groves, who held the WBA super-middleweight world title from 2017 to 2018, believes there is a chance of an upset.

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"It could be a potential banana skin and John Ryder said that he believes Canelo is on the downward trajectory and that we've already had the best of him," Groves told talkSPORT.com.

"So at some point, if you keep fighting, he could get beaten and Munguia is a handful, he's a really good fighter, a former world champion."

A lot has been made about the difference in the way Munguia and Canelo handled their common opponent, Ryder.

Canelo went the distance with the durable Brit in May 2023 while Munguia blasted him out in the ninth stanza earlier this year.

Groves thinks such comparisons are immaterial due to Ryder's differing ambitions in both contests.

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"I don't think it's fair to make a direct comparison in their performances with their mutual opponent, John Ryder because his life's ambition would have been that Canelo fight and it's just not the same buzz fighting Munguia and he almost instantly retired," Groves added.

"The Canelo fight also would have taken miles off him so write Canelo off at your own peril.

"Everyone was getting really excited about Charlo and then Canelo absolutely handled him."

Ryder recently insisted that Canelo is on the decline as a fighter.

Asked whether he thinks the same, Groves replied: "Yeah, he fights differently now, there's almost a lot less head movement.

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"He used to box like a young fresh fighter now he just bullies people and maybe that is because he's now at super middleweight and he's heavier and denser.

"Remember he had those taxing fights Gennady Golovkin which ultimately he came out on top of but they were hard fights, taxing fights and he's been around forever.

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"He has been competing at the highest level for a very long time.

"He's an incredible fighter and he's still the best super-middleweight in the world and it's not as if he is on shaky legs but at some point somebody could pip him."

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