By Norm Frauenheim –
LAS VEGAS – It was a so-called ceremony, meaning there was no controversy until Ryan Garcia showed up.
Canelo Alvarez and Jaime Munguia made weight early Friday, Canelo at 166.8 pounds and Munguia 167.4, behind closed doors and for the regulators at the official weigh-in.
Hours later, they repeated the performance, this time for a roaring crowd on a pavilion in front of T-Mobile Arena where they’ll finally fight Saturday (Amazon Prime/pay-per-view card/5 pm PT, 8 pm ET). Neither the plot nor the weights changed.
“I feel very good, like I’m in my prime,’’ said Canelo (60-2-2, 34 KOs), the undisputed super-middleweight champion whose readiness has been evident throughout a week that included an edgy confrontation with promoter Oscar De La Hoya.
De La Hoya was there, ceremonial in his presence and also wearing a T-shirt with a message that at least hinted at some controversy.
Eat More Meat, the shirt said.
Clearly, it was a reference to his furnace blast full of insults at Canelo during a news conference Wednesday at the MGM Grand. That’s when De La Hoya reminded Canelo of his positive test for Clenbuterol, a steroid found in Mexican beef, in March 2018.
Canelo responded angrily. He got out of his chair and walked toward De La Hoya with some evident menace in every step. He alleged that De La Hoya wasn’t paying his fighters what they were promised.
The next day, their attorneys exchanged letters. They weren’t menacing. The words belonged on a legal brief instead of a T-shirt. Still, they were just another sign of how wide and deep the divide is between Canelo and De La Hoya, his former promoter.
Lost amid it all: Munguia (43-0, 34 KOs), the 27-year-old challenger from Tijuana who will be fighting at 168 pounds for only the second time.
The Canelo-De La Hoya rancor and Ryan Garcia’s PED controversy has almost turned him into a footnote.
But this footnote promises to upset Canelo, the proud face of Mexican boxing for years.
“Tomorrow, I will be the new world champion,’’ Munguia said after he appeared to nod at Canelo in a gesture of respect at the end of their ritual face-off for the cameras.
By then, the weigh-in was over. But Ryan Garcia was just getting started. He showed up in the crowd of about 3,000 and immediately attracted a crowd of reporters. That’s when he continued to say that his positive test for Ostarine, an anabolic derivative, before his upset of Devin Haney on April 20, was fraudulent.
“I don’t cheat, bro, this is God given,” Garcia said. “Of course, I’ll take (the ‘B’ sample). But who’s to say if they tainted the ‘A’ sample that they won’t taint the ‘B’ sample?
“At the end of the day, this is an inside job.”
At the end of the day, Ryan Garcia has turned the Canelo-Munguia promotion into his own bully pulpit.
He won’t answer an opening bell Saturday. But it’s safe to say he’ll continue to dominate the media.
Jesus Ramos, back after his first loss
Jesus Ramos (20-1, 16 KOs), a promising junior-middleweight from Casa Grande AZ, will fight on the untelevised portion of the card.
He faces Venezuelan Johan Gonzalez (34-2, 33 KOS). The bout is Ramos’ first since his lone loss to Erickson Lubin in a controversial decision in September.
“I learned from my first defeat,’’ Ramos said. “I learned a lot. It was really hard. But I’m hungrier than ever now.’’
