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Historically in the sport of boxing, there is a list of big fights that failed to materialize, but currently a potential mega fight between Canelo Alvarez and David Benavidez is in high public demand, but facing Benavidez is a risk Canelo’s not willing to take.
David Benavidez is a former two-time WBC world champion who lost his title outside the ring on two separate occasions. Benavidez was stripped in September 2018 due to a positive drug test, and after regaining the title, he was stripped again in August 2020 because he missed weight.
Two years later, Benavidez would go on to defeat David Lemieux by way of 3rd round TKO and won the WBC interim super-middleweight title. Benavidez called out Canelo but unfortunately, Canelo decided to go in a different direction.
Canelo defeated the then 40-year-old Gennady “GGG” Golovkin in their trilogy fight via unanimous decision. After the trilogy fight, Alvarez became upset at his post-fight press conference when a member of the media asked the Benavidez question.
Alvarez responded by stating, he doesn’t fight Mexicans due to the fact that he represents Mexico. Alvarez also took a shot at the former two-time WBC world champion David Benavidez’s credentials by implying Benavidez hasn’t accomplished enough to deserve a title shot.
After he made the statements, within a 12-month period, Alvarez fought John Ryder, a man who had five losses and never won a world title. Following the unanimous decision victory over Ryder, Alvarez beat Mexican boxer Jaime Munguia.
After contradicting himself with the Benavidez has a lack of accomplishments statement and the he doesn’t fight Mexicans argument, Canelo came up with a new excuse. In March 2024, Canelo Alvarez, who normally makes approximately $30 million per fight, said he would agree to face David Benavidez for $200 million.
Canelo’s reason for requesting the additional money is due to rehydration. During an interview related to the topic, Canelo stated: “He (Benavidez) brings nothing to the table for me. He brings just 25 pounds more on that night. That’s it.”
Six months later, Canelo Alvarez fought Edgar Berlanga, a man who brought nothing to the table, and he was participating in his first world title match. In addition to that, as a challenger for the 168-pound unification world title match, Berlanga rehydrated to 193 pounds on fight night.
When you analyze the timeline of incriminating evidence, it’s easy to see that Saul “Canelo” Alvarez is ducking David Benavidez. The difference between Benavidez and Canelo’s past four opponents is Canelo knew he could beat them, but he thinks he can defeat David Benavidez.
For Canelo, fighting David Benavidez is a classic case of high risk and low reward, and that’s the reason why Canelo stamped this potential bout with a $200 million price tag. Canelo can say Benavidez has done nothing, but judging by the price point Canelo set, it shows that he respects Benavidez.
As a potential opponent, David Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) is everything Canelo doesn’t want to see. Benavidez is an aggressive, highly skilled fighter who is younger, has the size advantage, and is a volume puncher who possesses exceptional hand speed.
It’s tragic in regards to the fans not receiving the fight they’ve been demanding for the past two years. Through it all, the WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman helped Canelo navigate his way around the Benavidez fight.
Back in November 2022, Mauricio Sulaiman stated the winner of the David Benavidez vs Caleb Plant match would be the mandatory challenger for Canelo Alvarez. Benavidez defeated Plant by unanimous decision, but Sulaiman failed to order the fight.
A year later, Sulaiman stated the winner of the David Benavidez vs Demetrius Andrade bout would be the mandatory for Canelo. Benavidez stopped Andrade in the sixth round, but once again, Sulaiman failed to order the Canelo vs Benavidez match.
The past two years have been very frustrating for fight fans and boxing pundits. Everyone is calling for the Canelo vs Benavidez match to take place, but Canelo chooses to ignore the demands of the general public.
Recently, Benavidez moved up to 175 but he says he would come back down to 168 to face Canelo. So the question is, will we ever see a Canelo vs Benavidez matchup?
Judging by the way Canelo is content with living off his past accolades of big, risky fights, I would guess this mega fight will never happen, and it will go down as being the biggest miss of this era.
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