David Benavidez believes he’s the only one in the super middleweight division that has a shot at defeating undisputed 168-lb champion Canelo Alvarez and he’s just waiting for his opportunity to dethrone him.
Benavidez (24-0, 21 KOs) is fighting this Saturday night against Kyrone Davis (16-2-1, 6 KOs) in a 10 round match on SHOWTIME at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona.
With a great showing against Davis, the 24-year-old Benavidez hopes that he will be given the title shot against IBF/WBA/WBC/WBO champion Canelo (57-1-2, 39 KOs) on Cinco de Mayor in May 2022. If not, Benavidez says he’ll keep beating the guys in front of him until he’s given a chance.
This will be Benavidez’s second fight since losing his WBC super middleweight title on the scales a year ago when he came in over the weigh-in limit for his title defense against Roamer Alexis Angulo on August 15th, 2020.
The World Boxing Council has Benavidez ranked #1, but they haven’t ordered Canelo to defend against him. It’s debatable whether Canelo would agree to defend against Benavidez if the WBC attempts to order him to face him.
As we’ve seen in the past, the WBC can’t force Canelo to fight guys he doesn’t want to, even if they’re his #1 mandatory challenger, as is the case of Benavidez.
“I have the best shot [to beat Alvarez] because I have the most power,” Benavidez said to ESPN . “I have longer arms, as much as speed — probably even faster. I’m the strongest candidate to fight Canelo.”
It would have been great to have seen Canelo fight Benavidez in the last three years rather than watching him beat the 168-lb belt-holders Caleb Plant, Billy Joe Saunders, Callum Smith, or Rocky Fielding. Benavidez would have been preferable to seeing Canelo beat those three hapless titleholders at super middleweight.
“I’m willing to fight anybody,” he adds. “People don’t think like that no more, especially now that Canelo is in the mix. People are just trying to secure the fight with Canelo and trying to secure a check,” said Benavidez.
What Benavidez says about fighters facing only beatable opposition so they can pad their records and hopefully get a massive cash-out payday against Canelo is the criticism that boxing fans had about Caleb Plant. He’d never beaten anyone during his career other than Jose Uzcategui to win the IBF super middleweight belt.
Once Plant got a hold of the IBF title, he played it safe, defending it against marginal opposition until he was allowed to fight Canelo. Benavidez wanted to fight Plant but got nowhere.
Instead, Plant defended his IBF title against Mike Lee, Vincent Feigenbutz, and Caleb Truax before being picked out by Canelo for a unification match.
“We’ve been working on the jab a lot, something Canelo can’t get away from,” says Benavidez’s dad, Jose Benavidez Sr.
“We’re coming forward; we’re not stepping back; we’re not going to try to box him. That’s what separates him. Everybody wants to move around and box.”
You’re not going to win a decision against Canelo by boxing him for 12 rounds because that’s been tried before by Erislandy Lara, Austin Trout, and Gennadiy Golovkin. It doesn’t work.
The best way for Benavidez to have a chance of beating Canelo is to attack him and beat him at his own game.
We’ll see if Benavidez gets the chance to fight Canelo in May 2022 if he successfully defeats Kyrone Davis this Saturday. According to Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, Canelo has these options for his next fight:
Artur Beterbiev
Dmitry Bivol
John Ryder
Joe Smith Jr
Jermall Charlo
You can throw in Demetrius Andrade in the mix, but that’s pointless because Canelo has already made it known that he’s not interested in fighting him, and Andrade has a lousy style for Canelo.
Canelo & Co have been avoiding Benavidez, and they’ll string him out well into 2022 hoping someone else beats him, then they won’t have to fight him.
It’s all money now. That’s what boxing has turned into. Get it while you can. One loss can cost you perhaps tens of millions of dollars. Or more. Why risk it? This is what people choose to do to take care of their families. Make all you can!!