Historically in the sport of boxing, there is a list of great fights that have not come to fruition, but currently a potential mega fight between Canelo Alvarez and David Benavidez is in high public demand, but facing Benavidez is a risk that Canelo is not wanted 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 defeated David Lemieux via 3rd round TKO and won the interim WBC super middleweight title. Benavidez called out Canelo, but unfortunately, Canelo decided to go in a different direction.
Canelo defeated then-40-year-old Gennady “GGG” Golovkin in their trilogy fight via unanimous decision. After the trilogy fight, Alvarez got angry in his post-fight press conference when a member of the media asked Benavidez the question.
Alvarez responded by saying that he does not fight Mexicans for the fact that he represents Mexico. Alvarez also took a swipe at the credentials of former WBC world champion David Benavidez, implying that Benavidez has not done enough to deserve a title shot.
After making the statements, in a period of 12 months, Alvarez fought John Ryder, a man who had five losses and never won a world title. After the unanimous decision victory over Ryder, Alvarez defeated the Mexican boxer Jaime Munguia.
After arguing with the Benavidez has a lack of statement of achievements and the argument that he does not fight the Mexicans, Canelo came up with a new excuse. In March 2024, Canelo Alvarez, who usually earns around $30 million per fight, said he would agree to face David Benavidez for $200 million.
Canelo’s reason for asking for 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 only brings 25 more pounds that night. That’s it.”
Six months later, Canelo Alvarez fought Edgar Berlanga, a man who brought nothing to the table, and was participating in his first world title match. On top of that, as a challenger for the 168-pound unification world title match, Berlanga rehydrated to 193 pounds on fight night.
When analyzing the timeline of the incriminating evidence, it is easy to see that Saul “Canelo” Alvarez ducking David Benavidez. The difference between Benavidez and Canelo’s last four opponents is that Canelo knew he could beat him, but he thinks he can beat David Benavidez.
For Canelo, fighting David Benavidez is a classic case of high risk and low reward, and this is the reason why Canelo has printed this potential encounter with a price of $ 200 million. Canelo may say that Benavidez has done nothing, but judging by the price point Canelo has 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 for the fans who didn’t get the fight they’ve been demanding for the last two years. Through it all, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman helped Canelo navigate the Benavidez fight.
In November 2022, Mauricio Sulaiman stated that 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 did not order the fight.
A year later, Sulaiman declared that the winner of the match David Benavidez vs. Demetrius Andrade 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, but Canelo is choosing to ignore the questions from the general public.
Benavidez recently moved up to 175, but says he will return to 168 to face Canelo. So the question is, will we ever see a Canelo vs. Benavidez matchup?
Judging by the way Canelo is happy to live off his past accolades of big, high-stakes fights, I think this mega fight will never happen, and will go down as the biggest miss of this era.
