Canelo Alvarez has suggested he will never box David Benavidez, saying “it’s not fair” that the Mexican-American fights in the weight classes he occupies.
Fans have long desired a showdown between Mexico’s Canelo, a former four-weight world champion, and Benavidez, a three-weight world champion, with many accusing Canelo of “ducking” the 29-year-old.
Canelo has held titles at super-welterweight, middleweight, super-middleweight, and even light-heavyweight, while Benavidez has held gold at super-middleweight, light-heavyweight and cruiserweight.
Benavidez was even the WBC mandatory challenger to Canelo at super-middleweight for more than two years, without obtaining a fight with the 36-year-old. Benavidez thus moved up to light-heavyweight and, most recently, cruiserweight, where he took the WBA and WBO belts from Gilberto Ramirez with a stoppage win in May.
But Canelo has said he does not care about suggestions that he has avoided Benavidez, telling journalist Ariel Helwani: “I’m not worried because I did everything. I did everything in boxing. I accomplished everything in boxing, and I have nothing to prove, but yes, I will miss boxing a lot [when I retire].
“I’ve always been in that situation [of being called out], so it’s nothing strange for me. A lot of names out there, but when I beat them, then the other name comes. Right now, it’s Benavidez.
“He’s a heavyweight fighting in 175[lb], or cruiserweight, or something. But he’s a heavyweight. It’s not fair.
“When I turned undisputed [at super-middleweight for the second time], if he would be a champion at that point, that’s the correct time to do the fight. But he wasn’t, and he was fighting at 168[lb] at that point, but he wasn’t a champion.”
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Canelo also downplayed Benavidez’s status as a “Mexican” fighter, saying: “Not Mexican. It’s different, Mexican-American.”
Canelo was due to return against Christian Mbili in September, but that bout has been rescheduled for 31 October in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“I’m always very disciplined with my training, and I wasn’t ready to be in the training camp,” Alvarez explained. “So, that’s why I postponed the fight, because I need to attend family first.
“All good now, I’m ready to train, and we are going to be [fighting] on 31 October.”
Canelo’s last bout was a points loss to Terence Crawford in September, as the American took the undisputed super-middleweight belts from the Mexican. With that result, Crawford stayed unbeaten and made history as boxing’s first three-weight undisputed champion in the four-belt era.
Crawford, 38, retired three months later, denying Canelo a rematch. Canelo underwent elbow surgery and is now preparing to challenge Mbili for the WBC super-middleweight title.
