David Benavidez hasn’t given up on his pursuit of a fight against superstar Canelo Alvarez. In an interview, ‘The Mexican Monster’ dared the recently vanquished Canelo (63-3-2, 39 KOs) to face him inside the ring, labeling him as “scared.”
The last person Alvarez needs to be fighting is the WBC light heavyweight champion (30-0, 24 KOs) after his lackluster performance against the pumped-up former welterweight champion Terence Crawford on September 13.
Benavidez Labels Canelo ‘Scared’
“He’s definitely scared of me. When you have a fighter talking so much trash in front of you, why don’t you make an example of him to the world? Beat me in the ring and make a whole lot of money,” said David Benavidez via Ring Magazine, calling out Canelo Alvarez despite his recent loss.
Should Benavidez Look Elsewhere?
Benavidez should give up on his dream of fighting Canelo and focus on pursuing the light heavyweight division, targeting Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev. If he wants to fight a smaller fighter, he should start a pressure campaign to push Crawford into fighting him.
However, the chances of that fight happening are slim as well, because Crawford has already turned it down. He’s now wealthy enough after his $50 million purse for the Canelo fight that he can refuse a clash against Benavidez.
It’s crazy to imagine Terence rejecting what would likely be a payday of $25 million or more for a fight with Benavidez, but he may not want to end his career being knocked out. The avoidance would be strategic.
Swerve a loss and artificially stay among one of the all-time greats, even though he didn’t take the risky fights that they did. In this day and age, that’s how you maneuver your way to all-time great status by avoiding fighters. It’s hard to respect, though.
Canelo’s Problem with Bigger Fighters
“He’s not able to suppress these fighters [bigger ones] as he is with the little fighters,” said Benavidez.
It’s not just bigger fighters that Canelo has problems with. His losses to Crawford and Floyd Mayweather Jr. were against smaller fighters, who used movement to defeat him.
Canelo looked slow, weak, and poorly conditioned in losing a 12-round unanimous decision to the 37-year-old Crawford. It wasn’t that Bud looked good because he was far from that; it was more of a case of Alvarez appearing hesitant to throw.
Moreover, the Mexican star’s physique had a washed-out appearance, no longer looking toned and muscular as he had in fights against Edgar Berlanga, Caleb Plant, and John Ryder in recent years.