Chants of ‘Mun-gui-a, Mun-gui-a’ greeted Jaime Munguia as he arrived in Beverly Hills ahead of a good-natured and respectful press conference to formally announce his May 4 Las Vegas fight with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.

Mexican star Munguia, flanked by Oscar De La Hoya, Fernando Beltran and trainer Freddie Roach, is 43-0 (34 KOs) and the fighters greeted one another on stage with a handshake.

“I want to thank Canelo, the fighter with the four titles, I want to thank him for the opportunity,” said the challenger. “We’re working really hard for this, and on the 4th of May it’s going to be a big fight. Viva Mexico.”

Alvarez had previously said he would not face another Mexican, but he paid tribute to Munguia’s efforts in the ring and his respectfulness ahead of their clash at the T-Mobile.

For his part, Munguia said he had always looked up to Mexican icon Canelo.

“He has always been a source of pride and motivation for me,” Munguia added.

“When I was coming up and I used to see him fight, I said, 'That’s a good guy, I want to be like him.’ And today we have the chance to face him and hopefully we get to be like him one day.”

Munguia is coming off an impressive win over English challenger John Ryder in Phoenix in January, a fighter Canelo toiled to a 12-round decision over last May in Guadalajara. For many, Munguia’s performance earned him this all-Mexican clash, but he is not reading much into results against Ryder.

“Two completely different fights, in the second round [against Ryder] we noticed weaknesses and we punched and it hurt him,” Munguia explained. “Two different fights… doesn’t have anything to do with what we have coming up.”

Munguia also paid tribute to trainer Roach and the work they are doing together at the Wild Card Boxing Club.

“Not only is he a great trainer, talking about boxing, but he’s also a good person, a kind person and he’s always motivating us to keep moving forward and training hard,” Munguia added.

Munguia turned pro back in 2013, and while he’s had plenty of big fights, he has not seen anything of this magnitude, but he insists he will take it in his stride.

“Yes, we’re ready,” said the challenger to Canelo’s undisputed super middleweight crowns. “We are ready for everything and we are going to give it everything and have a great fight that night. This is the beginning of the top of my career."

Roach added: "It doesn’t get any bigger than this, this is the biggest fight in the world right now, two of the biggest fighters in the world and I’m in charge of getting one of them ready and we’re doing a good job. His work ethic is great, and I’m going to do everything I can to take the title."