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Canelo Alvarez could cut in front of WBC mandatory David Benavidez to take the winner of the October 12th undisputed light heavyweight championship fight between Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev.
Canelo stepping in front of Benavidez to take the winner of the Bivol-Beterbiev fight would anger the ‘Mexican Monster’ because he’s hoping to get that fight next. It would be worse for Benavidez if Canelo captured the undisputed championship at 175 and then vacated the four titles without fighting him.
Canelo’s Rematch Interest
The belts would become fragmented, and Benavidez would have to try and capture them one by one, which he would have very little chance of doing. Most believe Benavidez’s true reason for wanting to fight the Beterbiev vs. Bivol winner is for the money. His Excellency Turki Alalshikh will be putting on the event, and it’ll likely be in Riyadh.
The Mexican superstar Canelo (61-2-2, 39 KOs) said in an interview this week that he’s interested in fighting a rematch against WBA 175-lb champion Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs) to avenge his 12-round unanimous decision loss two years ago on May 7, 2022.
For some reason, Canelo opted not to fight a rematch after losing to Bivol. He’s forgotten about until now. There would be a lot more for Canelo to gain fighting Bivol if he holds all four belts at 175 than there would be in fighting Benavidez, who holds the WBC interim trinket that he recently won against Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15h.
It’s unknown how serious Canelo is about fighting for the undisputed championship at 175 because his chances of success against the winner of the Bivol-Beterbiev fight would be slim. Moreover, if Beterbiev emerges victorious on October 12th, he could get knocked out.
Beterbiev would put a lot of pressure on Canelo and hammer him on the inside. He wouldn’t look to box like Bivol did in his win over Alvarez.
Canelo will defend his unified super middleweight titles against Edgar Berlanga on September 14th, but after that, he has an open schedule.
“Canelo does whatever he wants. So if he wants to step in between and challenge Bivol in a rematch and cut in front David Benavidez, he can, he would be allowed,” said Chris Algieri to the Probox TV YouTube channel, reacting to Canelo Alvarez saying he’s interested in fighting a rematch with Dmitry Bivol.
That would be the ultimate way for Canelo to get back at Benavidez by jumping the front of the line to fight Bivol or Beterbiev. There wouldn’t be anything Benavidez could do about it because he’s not popular enough to prevent Canelo from taking his position.
“He’s able to maneuver in ways that no one else in the sport can,” said Algieri. “In terms of him stepping in front and fighting Bivol again, I don’t know. He’s been saying that for a long time. They fought multiple years ago [May 7, 2022], and they still haven’t had that rematch. It probably wouldn’t have been that hard to make, considering Canelo can move the way he does.”
Canelo has never had a good reason to set up a rematch with Bivol, but now he does potentially. If Bivol can win the undisputed at 175, a fight between him and Canelo would be huge. There would be massive money and a potential for Canelo to add to his legacy.
“If he wants that fight, it could have happened already, but if it comes down to this,” said Algieri. “I either have the opportunity to fight Benavidez or Bivol. I already lost to Bivol. So if I fight him, it’s a much bigger fighter if he does win. If Canelo is looking at whether he’s going to fight Bivol or Benavidez.
“Benavidez is not at the star power of Canelo obviously. He’s also not as name-recognized as a champion as Bivol is. In terms of who would make more sense for Canelo to fight, which would be a bigger fight, it’s the rematch with Bivol,” said Algieri.
It makes more sense for Canelo to fight Bivol or Beterbiev if one of them holds the four titles. Benavidez has nothing to offer, and his career looks shaky after his last performance.
“He [Canelo] has the chance to fight for undisputed at 175. He’s already been in the ring with him. If he was stuck between a rock and a hard place, I wouldn’t be surprised if Canelo would go the Bivol way if he had to,” said Algieri.
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