David Benavidez: I’m the guy to beat Canelo Alvarez

By Boxing News - 01/19/2021 - Comments

By Brad Slotnick: David Benavidez knows already that he’s the guy that will beat Canelo Alvarez and bring back down to earth when the two square off.

The former WBC super middleweight champion Benavidez (23-0, 20 KOs) recommends that Alvarez (54-1-2, 36 KOs) soon because he’s only going to get better.

Benavidez, 24, isn’t a fighter that Canelo can ‘age’ by waiting years until he’s old enough to beat. Many boxing fans feel that Canelo did with Gennadiy Golovkin and are still doing it by seemingly delaying their third fight.

Benavidez suspects Canelo has been avoiding him for a while now, and that’s why he didn’t fight him when he held the WBC 168lb title. Canelo fought for the WBC title only after Benavidez lost it on the scales in 2020.

Canelo can’t wait Benavidez out

Benavidez feels that if the 30-year-old Canelo hopes to have any shot at fighting him, he’ll need to take the fight soon.

He’s considerably older than Benavidez, and if he waits too much longer, he’s going to lose his speed and reflexes. Those are Canelo’s main assets.

Benavidez won’t bow down to Canelo

“He’s good; he’s looking excellent,” said Benavidez to Fighthype about how Canelo Alvarez looks at 168. “I think what makes him really dangerous is he’s fast, and his experience.

Image: David Benavidez: I'm the guy to beat Canelo Alvarez

“He throws a lot of different s*** because he’s been in there with the best. He’s seen a lot of stuff that has come his way, so he’s taking a few pages out of somebody else’s book, too, and put it together.

“That’s what the best do. Me, I have nothing bad to say about Canelo. I think Canelo is a legend in my eyes, but I’m not going to f****** lay down for nobody. ‘Okay, he’s the best.

“Let me lay down for him.’ I’m not going to lay down for anybody. If I were going to do that, I wouldn’t even be boxing,” Benavidez said about how he’s not going to bow down for Alvarez.

The comment by Benavidez about Canelo “taking a few pages out of somebody else’s book” is likely a jab at the Mexican star for how he added a lot of Floyd Mayweather’s moves after his fight against him in 2012.

Benavidez won’t be one of Canelo’s many fawning admirers smothering him with compliments about his talent. While Benavidez does respect Canelo, he views him as beatable with his style.

So he’s not going to give Alvarez false flattery in hopes that if he might give him a fight one day. Gennady Golovkin hasn’t flattered Canelo, and he was able to get to fights against him.

YouTube video

There are plenty of fighters that have been flatterers of Canelo, but being a doormat doesn’t work. Canelo doesn’t pick his opponents based on how nice they are to him.

Fans are mad at Benavidez because he’s confident

“People are mad because I believe in myself, and I work my f***** a** off, and I feel like I could potentially be the one to beat Canelo,” Benavidez continued.

Image: David Benavidez: I'm the guy to beat Canelo Alvarez

“So now people are mad at me, talking s***. You guys know nothing about boxing. A lot of them know nothing about boxing, and that’s just not how it works.

“What if I am the guy that beats Canelo? And I feel in my heart I am the guy that is going to beat Canelo. What is everybody going to say now? ‘Oh, Canelo, he just fought too many people.’ You know what I mean?” said Benavidez.

Canelo’s popularity is to such a high degree now that when fighters like Benavidez say he thinks he can beat him, it upsets his legions of fans.

They think Canelo is unbeatable, and they’ve forgotten how Golovkin got the better of him in their first fight and how Mayweather easily out-boxed him.

Benavidez is already predicting that he’s not going to get credit after he beats Canelo.

The fans will say that Canelo has too much ring wear from his wars over the years. If Canelo waits three to four years before he finally faces Benavidez, boxing fans will say he lost because of his age.

YouTube video

That’s why it would be better for Canelo if he took the fight with Benavidez right now.

Benavidez: Me and Canelo will be a war

“There’s always a way around things, but I’m just very excited,” said Benavidez. “I feel like if they don’t get this fight with me right now, I’m getting more experience, I’m getting stronger, I’m getting faster, and my IQ is getting higher by the day.

Image: David Benavidez: I'm the guy to beat Canelo Alvarez

“I feel like when me and Canelo fight, it’s going to be a f**** war. It’s going to be Morales  – Barrera, and that’s what I’m hoping for.

“I want to be known in the history books of boxing, and if I get a fight like that, I’ll never be forgotten. And if we get a trilogy with three fights like that, I’ll never be forgotten, and that’s my goal. To never be forgotten,” said Benavidez.

It’s hard to picture Canelo fighting Benavidez three times. That doesn’t sound realistic at all, especially that Canelo has stayed away from Benavidez all these years.

If Canelo fancied the fight with Benavidez, he would have taken it back in 2018 when he first move up in weight.

If this fight does happen, Benavidez will need to battle Canelo on the ropes because that’s where he’s likely to go.

When Canelo is put under a lot of pressure, he tends to fight off the ropes, which helps him turtle-up to make himself less vulnerable.

Benavidez is the future star in the super middleweight division. You can argue the only reason he’s not a star right now is that he’s been avoided.

Also, the 168-lb division has lacked the popular fighters for Benavidez to increase his star power against.

If Benavidez can’t get a fight against Canelo, he should target IBF champion, Caleb Plant. Those two need to square off, so they find out who the best fighter is in the division. Canelo might be too small to compete against those two.