Trainer Stephen Edwards says a fight between undisputed Canelo Alvarez and David Benavidez is an even match if it takes place next year.
Edwards says he had been leaning towards ‘The Mexican Monster’ Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs) winning that fight, but after the way Canelo (60-2-2, 39 KOs) performed in his victory over Jermell Charlo on September 30th, he feels that he’s not going to have his will broken by the younger, bigger fighter.
Stephen admitted that he’d been thinking that the 33-year-old Canelo was starting to show signs of fading in his trilogy fight against Gennadiy Golovkin in 2022 and John Ryder last May, but he changed his mind when he saw him against Jermell.
WBC interim super middleweight champion Benavidez is hoping that he’ll get a chance to fight Canelo this May. If not, then in September.
It’s still unknown if Canelo will agree to fight Benavidez in 2024 because he’s got other options against Jermall Charlo, Jaime Munguia, and Terence Crawford. PBC would want Canelo to fight Benavidez, but they won’t be too unhappy if he faces Crawford instead.
It’ll be interesting to see what Benavidez does if he can’t get the fight with Canelo next year. Does he continue to boil down from the 190s to fight at 168, or does he move up to light heavyweight or cruiserweight to make things easier for himself?
Canelo’s Resurgence
“A draw. It’s a close fight, so I got to see because Canelo looked like he was slipping a little bit, and then against Jermell, he looked great. So, it’s hard to tell,” said Stephen Edwards to Fighthype when asked about his prediction on a fight between Canelo Alvarez and David Benavidez.
“With all the monster-type stuff that Benavidez does in winning guys down and breaking their will, Canelo likes it when you come to him like that. He’s got that James Toney way about him. ‘Come on, bring it.'”
Canelo looks like he’s been reborn lately, showing the kind of talent that he had against Jermell Charlo when he became undisputed champion at 168 in 2021. If he continues to fight like that, Benavidez could be in trouble if they fight next year.
“He’s got an elite defense, he’s got an elite chin, he’s strong as hell, and he can punch also,” said Edwards. “It ain’t no steamroll Canelo. He’s a different-level guy when it comes down to that. Nobody is just walking him down and beating up on him like that.
“He’s like a Mexican James Toney in the sense that he’s kind of better with bigger guys because you’re not breaking their will, and their defense is so good. That’s a close fight,” said Edwards.
Benavidez is going to get nailed with some big counter-shots if he opens up on Canelo like he did in his fights against Demetrius Andrade and Caleb Plant. It’s risky for Benavidez to go all out against Canelo like he did against those guys, because he’s going to run into something.
Fans would like to see Benavidez fight David Morrell or Dmitry Bivol next if he can’t get the fight with Canelo because he could then show that he’s for real and not just someone that has taken advantage of smaller opposition, like Caleb Plant, David Lemieux and Demetrius Andrade.
“I was kind of leaning David until I saw how Canelo looked against Jermell, and I’m like, ‘He got his mojo back.’ That looked like the guy that unified the super middleweight division,” said Stephen.
That wasn’t the guy that fought GGG in the third fight or the guy that fought John Ryder,” said Edwards about Canelo looking improved against Jermell.
