Notebook: Surace-Munguia rematch set for Canelo undercard in Riyadh
Stephen A. Smith show appearance; Keyshawn interview; Muratalla-Abdullaev date, site; Berlanga change of plans; Matchroom heads to Canada; Kambosos homecoming details; Quick hits; Show and tell
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That super middleweight Bruno Surace and Jaime Munguia will meet in an immediate rematch is not a shock, but where they will fight is a bit surprising.
The fight will take place on May 3 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as the co-feature of unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez’s fight with IBF titlist William Scull for the undisputed title, Turki Alalshikh, the head of Riyadh Season, announced on social media.
On Dec.14, Surace (26-0-2, 5 KOs), 26, an obscure fighter from France, who had faced nothing but low-level opposition, was the hand-picked opponent for Munguia, who wanted to squeeze in a fourth fight of 2024.
Surace traveled to Munguia’s hometown of Tijuana, Mexico, and ruined the homecoming by scoring the biggest upset of the year.
Surace had been knocked down in the second round and utterly dominated before landing a clean right hand on the chin that knocked out the 50-1 favorite Munguia in the sixth round.
Munguia (44-2, 35 KOs), 28, who had been dropped but gone the distance in a decision loss challenging Alvarez for his title last May, had the right to an immediate rematch with Surace and there were conversations about it taking place in April.
But Alalshikh worked out a deal with Munguia co-promoters Top Rank and Zanfer Promotions to buy the fight for the Alvarez-Scull card.
Munguia will go into the fight with Eddy Reynoso as his new head trainer, having parted ways once again with Erik Morales to join Reynoso, who is also Alvarez’s trainer.
Stephen A. Smith show
My pal and former longtime ESPN colleague Stephen A. Smith invited me on his YouTube show this week to discuss the situation with Canelo Alvarez ultimately passing on a fight with Jake Paul to do a four-fight deal with Turki Alalshikh that includes a fall showdown with Terence Crawford. We broke all of that down and also discussed where David Benavidez fits in. Check out the segment here:
Keyshawn Davis interview
If you missed the recent podcast episode that included my one-on-one interview with lightweight contender Keyshawn Davis ahead of his challenge to WBO titlist Denys Berinchyk in Friday’s Top Rank Boxing on ESPN main event, we broke it out separately and you can listen to it here. Give it a listen, a review, and also subscribe to get an alert when the next episode is available. New shows every Thursday and Sunday night (and occasional special episodes like this one).