Canelo Alvarez recently suggested that his #1 contender at 168, David Benavidez fight Jermall Charlo. It sounded good at the time with pro-Canelo fans, but he was clearly doing by asking Benavidez & Charlo to fight was changing the frame to get the heat off of him.
Benavidez is coming for Canelo, and it’s clear that the ‘Face of Boxing’ doesn’t like that pressure. This is a guy that could take the judges out of the equation.
We’ve seen Canelo dodge at least five additional defeats during his career with questionable decisions. But against Benavidez, he might be judge-proof with his power, size, speed, combination punching, and offensive talent.
In the eyes of the boxing world, Benavidez (25-0, 22 KOs) is the guy that Canelo should be fighting instead of padding his resume against easy marks like Caleb Plant, Billy Joe Saunders, Avni Yildirim, and Callum Smith.
For Canelo to be telling the media that Benavidez should fight Charlo, it seems clear that he wants to get the pressure off his back because this guy is a real threat to him and his career. Benavidez might not only beat Canelo, but he could destroy him in the process.
Yeah, it’s only one loss for Canelo, right? Wrong. Canelo would have to fight Benavidez a second time if he were knocked out by him, and that’s where his career as a major moneymaker would take a major hit.
A second defeat at the hands of Benavidez for Canelo would be the beginning of the end for the Mexican star.
Canelo would be like a ship taking on water in the middle of the ocean, and there wouldn’t be anything his promoters could do to keep him from sinking into the dark, cold abyss.
“They need to fight each other,” Canelo said to ESNEWS about him wanting David Benavidez and Jermall Charlo to fight each other instead of him fighting them.
“And I’ll fight the winner of all of them. Why they don’t fight each other?” said Canelo.
What Canelo says about him fighting the winner of the Benavidez vs. Charlo fight sounds good, right? But what happens if Canelo chooses not to take the winner? There’s nothing Benavidez could do about it if Canelo wanted to continue to ignore him so that he could pad his record against fighters from the UK.
“I’ve been trying to get these fights for a long, long time, but everybody acts like divas now,” said Benavidez to Morning Combat about his inability to get fights.
“They act like the A-side or they want more money or this or that. That’s why I respect the UFC so much because everybody in the top 10, they fight each other. Why can’t boxing be the same?
“How can I get respect from the fans when the top five guys, they don’t want to fight? The big names, Charlo, Caleb Plant, they always got excuses. I feel like it’s holding boxing back as a sport because nobody wants to fight each other.
“I didn’t really understand it because Canelo is a businessman, and everybody talks about ‘Payday], but the one that’s making the biggest payday is Canelo.
“When he was over here with us with PBC, he was making over $100 million. Luis DeCubas said they offered him 55 million dollars with pay-per-view. It doesn’t make sense that he would take less money and go the other route [to sign a two-fight deal with Matchroom Boxing/DAZN].
“If it doesn’t happen this year or next year, I’m still 25-years-old and I’ll fight all these PBC fighters and go my own route. But when that fight happens, it’s going to be massive, and I’m going to be extremely ready for whoever that comes,” said Benavidez.