By Keith Idec

Jaime Munguia might be a little biased.

Not only is he Mexican, but the WBO junior middleweight champion realizes that a potential fight against Canelo Alvarez would be more lucrative than a bout with Gennady Golovkin. Regardless, Munguia predicted Alvarez will defeat Golovkin in their middleweight championship rematch September 15 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Munguia (30-0, 25 KOs), who is scheduled to battle Brandon Cook on the Alvarez-Golovkin undercard that night, made his comments before he, Alvarez and Golovkin participated in open workouts Sunday at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles.

“Obviously, it’s gonna be a great fight,” Munguia said, according to a translator. “And I think it’s gonna be a different fight than the one we saw last time because of all that’s been said. It’s more personal now and I think they hate each other. But I think just because Canelo is younger and he has been able to learn more from this past year, I think he’s gonna win the fight.”

By boxing Canada’s Cook (20-1, 13 KOs) two weeks from Saturday night, the 21-year-old Munguia will quickly make the second defense of the WBO 154-pound title he won by stopping Sadam Ali just three months ago.

Munguia got an opportunity to challenge Ali (26-2, 14 KOs) only after the Nevada State Athletic Commission declined to approve him as an opponent for Golovkin on May 5. Tijuana’s Munguia wanted to fight Golovkin, but he settled for a shot at Ali the following Saturday night.

The hard-hitting Munguia made the most of that opportunity by dropping Brooklyn’s Ali four times on a his way to a fourth-round, technical-knockout victory May 12 in Verona, New York. Munguia made the first defense of his title July 12, when he out-pointed former WBO champ Liam Smith (26-2-1, 14 KOs) by unanimous decision in their 12-rounder in Las Vegas.

Munguia gladly would move up to middleweight for a shot at the Golovkin-Alvarez winner, but he feels he’d have to wait for that opportunity.

“I’m gonna be watching that fight,” Munguia said. “I’m gonna be thinking about [fighting the winner], but I don’t think it’s a fight that’s gonna happen immediately. It’s gonna maybe happen in like a year.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.