David Benavidez admits that he was surprised at seeing Canelo Alvarez fail to adapt in his loss to WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol on May 7th.
Benavidez felt that a veteran like Canelo (57-2-2, 39 KOs) should have been able to adapt against Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs).
Canelo has a ton of experience as a professional, and he should have been capable of doing simple things like throwing jabs and combinations and moving around the ring.
Against Bivol, Canelo couldn’t do any of those things, and his stamina was on the level of a lower-tier fighter.
Canelo had been dealing with conditioning problems for years, but it was more of a problem for this fight because Bivol used a lot of movement rather than standing in front of him.
“I was stunned, but to be honest, I wasn’t completely shocked. I think I was more stunned by Canelo not being able to adapt to what Bivol was doing,” said David Benavidez to Fighthype when asked whether he was surprised at seeing Canelo Alvarez lose to Dmitry Bivol.
“Canelo, in that sense, was a veteran and had fought multiple world champions,” Benavidez continued. “I was kind of shocked that he didn’t look like he really wanted to adapt or do anything more than what he was doing.
“I always said that if Canelo ever fights a guy that is bigger than him and has as much power than him and actually stands his ground and isn’t just trying to make it to the 12-round, he was going to have a lot of problems.
“He has some good head movement, but he’s not a Floyd Mayweather that dodges everything, or he’s not a fighter that uses the ring the whole time. He’s really trying to inflict as much damage as possible.
“Seeing Bivol do that to him was kind of like, ‘I told you so. It could be done. It’s not extremely hard to do that. I was kind of sad that I couldn’t be the first one to do that.
“Hopefully, I can still get my chance [against Canelo] in the future. Do you think Bivol is going to fight someone that can possibly beat him and miss out on, like everyone is saying, the biggest payday of his life,” said Benavidez when asked if he liked the idea of fighting Bivol next while Canelo faces Gennadiy Golovkin in September.
“I don’t think he would. He’s obligated to fight Canelo. He’s the one that beat him. If they would give me the opportunity, I would definitely fight him.
“In Bivol’s game plan, I don’t think that would be smart for him, and I don’t think he would take that chance.
“Definitely, I feel like I’m ready for whoever. I’ve been training, and I’ve been here for a long time. Whatever opportunity that I get, I’m ready for anything.
“I think I can beat all these guys. I just need the opportunity to show people that I’m really the best,” said Benavidez.
