LAS VEGAS – Within a stretch of 36 hours starting Saturday night, promoter Fernando Beltran is sending two live underdogs to face two undisputed champions considered among the world’s top five pound-for-pound fighters.

“We win these eight belts, it will be celebration time,” Beltran told BoxingScene on Friday morning after observing his unbeaten super middleweight challenger Jaime Munguia arrive early for his official weigh-in at MGM Grand.

Munguia (43-0, 34 KOs) will face four-division champion and undisputed super middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez on Saturday night here at T-Mobile Arena (Prime Video, DAZN, PPV.com).

Beltran is then scheduled to board a flight to Tokyo, where he’ll watch his former junior featherweight titleholder Luis Nery (35-1, 27 KOs) meet undisputed junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue (26-0, 23 KOs) on Monday morning, U.S. time (ESPN+).

It starts with Munguia, 27, whom Beltran brought along deliberately, and who captured a junior middleweight belt in 2018, fighting a steady slate of veteran opposition and winning the 2023 Fight of the Year against Sergiy Derevyanchenko.

When Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KOs) went the distance with England’s John Ryder last Cinco de Mayo weekend, Beltran negotiated a Munguia-Ryder fight in Arizona in January and watched Munguia drop Ryder twice before finishing him by ninth-round TKO.

By taking a more respectful approach toward Alvarez than did the camp of unbeaten super middleweight champion David Benavidez, Beltran landed the Canelo fight for Munguia – even as Alvarez had previously avoided Mexican opponents out of respect for country, and even though Munguia is promoted in the U.S. by Oscar De La Hoya, Alvarez’s former promoter and object of his disdain.

“I did my work,” Beltran said, “and now it’s time for Jaime do his.”

Beltran has observed the extended training camp that Munguia has devoted to veteran trainer Freddie Roach in Hollywood, and he insists the strides have been significant.

“When you do a camp like he did, we’re not nervous, because we trust him a lot,” Beltran said. “The thing that’s curious is that the experts don’t give us any chance. They’re all saying Canelo by decision, Canelo by late knockout.”

Munguia is a +380 underdog (bet $100 to win $380), with Alvarez at +165 to win by knockout or stoppage.

“I don’t know who Canelo has knocked out lately – no one in the last four fights,” Beltran said. “And believe me, Jaime is much, much stronger than GGG [Gennadiy Golovkin] when he was 40 years old [fighting Alvarez in their September 2022 trilogy bout]. Jaime’s much, much stronger than Ryder – and Jaime proved that by erasing Ryder from the map. And he’s much, much stronger than a 154-pounder [Jermell Charlo].

“It is curious that nobody gives us a chance when we don’t know how to lose. We’ve never been on the canvas.

“They fought the same guy we did [Ryder], and it was a very different fight. I will never say anything about Saul being on the downside of his career, because I believe in his IQ. He’s a very smart fighter. I respect and admire him so much.

“But my fighter … he came to win. He didn’t come for the payday. He’s already made some pretty good money.”

Echoing what Munguia trainer Freddie Roach has said about Munguia, Beltran said the long camp was transforming for the fighter.

“He looks sensational – his body, his mentality,” Beltran said. “This is the fight he wanted. We’re very grateful to Canelo and his team for giving us this opportunity, but we came to win. We came to fight. Yes, Jaime needed to keep working on his defense. Rome wasn’t built in one day. But he’s not going to be just another day at the office like these others.”

Could this bout be a classic?

“You will see. They say [Alvarez] can stop Jaime. We feel we can do the same to him,” Beltran said.

Beltran took heart that Munguia got on the official morning scale before the 8:30 a.m. weigh-in, while Alvarez came in about 15 minutes later to determine weights that were formally announced at Friday’s noon weigh-in.

“We already won the first round,” Beltran declared. “If [Alvarez] takes it lightly, you will see. … It’s going to be a good one.”

When the bout ends, Munguia and Beltran will still be contractually tied, but the fighter is believed to be a free agent, who could explore unions with other American promoters.

Beltran said he expects to remain allegiant to De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions.

“We have done a very good partnership with them. They haven’t committed a foul. And we are loyal people,” Beltran said. “We work together very well. You can [write] that.”