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Undercard fighter David Benavidez used the spotlight this week to lash out at superstar Canelo Alvarez, criticizing him for charging fans a lot of money for his pay-per-view fights.
Benavidez argues that Canelo disrespects fans by charging exorbitant amounts of dough for his fights but failing to fight the top guys, himself and David Morrell.
Benavidez’s PPV Hypocrisy
‘The Mexican Monster’ Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs) fails to mention that fans had to pay to watch his last two fights on PPV. Benavidez’s last two fights were on PPV against Caleb Plant and Demetrius Andrade. Canelo knocked out Plant in 2021.
Those were not PPV-worthy fights, and his Andrade match brought in only 60K buys. Hence, Benavidez is fighting on the undercard of Gervonta Davis vs. Frank Martin this Saturday night.
“This guy’s charging so much for his PPVs, it’s like he’s spitting in you guys’ faces,” said Benavidez to the media. “He’s saying he doesn’t give a f*** what you guys want; he’s not going to give you the best fights.”
What Benavidez considers “The best fights” are Canelo fighting him, but he brings nothing to the table because he’s not a PPV draw, as we’ve seen with his fights against Andrade and Plant.
Avoiding the Real Test
The fans just don’t seem interested in paying to watch Benavidez, and you can argue it’s because he’s failed to test himself against the best during his 11-year professional career.
Benavidez’s best wins were against Andrade, a junior middleweight, and Plant, who Canelo had already knocked out. In hindsight, Benavidez should have moved up to 175 in 2015 and fought Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol. If Benavidez had beaten those two, he’d be a huge PPV star and wouldn’t need Canelo to sell his fights.
“If you hold all the titles, you’ve got to fight the best in the division,” Benavidez continued. “I’m #1, and #2 is David Morrell. He’s not fighting me, and he’s not fighting Morrell.”
Benavidez was called out numerous times by WBA ‘regular’ super middleweight champion Morrell, and he didn’t answer the call to face him. Instead of fighting Morrell, Benavidez fought the old-timer Andrade on PPV, and it bombed badly, bringing in only 60,000 buys last November on Showtime.
Benavidez is a hypocrite criticizing Canelo for not fighting the dangerous puncher Morrell when he wouldn’t do it himself.
“How long is he [Canelo] going to call himself champion if he doesn’t fight #1 or #2,” said Benavidez. “He’s disrespecting you guys. If you guys are cool with that, then there’s nothing I can say about it.”
Benavidez needs to practice what he preaches because he’s not fighting the best, and he’s fled the 168-lb division rather than fighting the Cuban talent Morrell in what would have been his first real test of his career.
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