Canelo Alvarez says #1 WBC 168-lb contender David Benavidez must fight other champions if he wants to get a shot at fighting him because his focus is fighting Gennadiy Golovkin next and then rematching WBA 175-lb champion Dmitry Bivol.
Canelo says he doesn’t want to talk about fighting Artur Beterbiev, and you can understand why. If he can’t beat Golovkin or Bivol, there’s no point in bringing Beterbiev into the mix.
Alvarez says the former two-time WBC super-middleweight champion Benavidez (26-0, 23 KOs) is an excellent fighter, and he expects him to keep improving.
However, Canelo says he has “Better” things to do right now involving Golovkin and Bivol. The way Canelo (57-2-2, 39 KOs) looked in his loss last May to Bivol, the last thing he should be doing is focusing on a future fight against Benavidez.
If Golovkin is able to follow the blueprint created by Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs), he could beat Canelo. Bivol focused on throwing combinations, moving a little, and covering up to block Canelo’s single shots.
It’s unclear if Golovkin is capable of throwing sustained combinations like Bivol because he’s always been a fighter that throws single shots that loads up on.
Canelo is good at blocking or ducking single punches, but he’s not nearly proficient at blocking sustained combinations, as we observed in his loss to Bivol.
“A lot of things happened in my body, knowing how I train, but it is what it is,” said Canelo to K.O. Artist Sports when asked what happened to him physically in his loss to Dmitry Bivol.
“Fight with other champions,” said Canelo when asked what David Benavidez needs to do to earn a fight against him. “I’m not disrespecting him. He’s a really good fighter. He’s young and is going to be better and better.
“But like I say, I’ve got other better things to do [than to fight Benavidez]. I think it’s more important for me.
“A lot of things you’re asking me,” said Canelo in shutting down the topic of whether he’d be interested in taking on IBF/WBC/WBO light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev,
“We have to go step by step. I have two fights in my mind right now. Golovkin and the rematch [with Bivol].
“I don’t want to make excuses or anything. I lost and that’s it, and I go forward and I’m going to get my chance at some point,” continued Canelo about his defeat against WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol.
“I just need to beat him really hard, and I’m really motivated and more dangerous now than before because of the way I come to into this fight,” said Canelo about wanting to beat Gennadiy Golovkin.
