By Dan Ambrose: Canelo Alvarez’s trainer Eddy Reynoso fired back at former WBC 168 champion David Benavidez on Tuesday on social media, reacting to his comments about Alvarez having avoided him.
Reynoso says Canelo ISN’T avoiding the unbeaten 24-year-old Benavidez (23-0, 20 KOs). The trainer then pointed out that the 6’2″ Benavidez has twice lost his WBC super middleweight title outside of the ring.
Despite what Reynoso says about Canelo not avoiding Benavidez, it does strike boxing fans as odd that he hasn’t fought him all these years.
Likewise, it’s peculiar that the Mexican superstar Canelo (55-1-2, 37 KOs) chose to unify all four of the 168-lb titles AFTER Benavidez was stripped of his WBC belt last August when he failed to make weight for a title defense.
“We do not avoid anyone. 2 times losing the title below [outside] of the ring answers your concern, champ. Regards,” said @Caneloteam.
This is the comment Reynoso was reacting to from Benavidez:
“I feel like I give Canelo the best fight out of anybody, and I feel like his team knows that too. That’s the reason why they’re kind of avoiding me,” said Benavidez to Fox Sports PBC.
Well, it’s nice that Reynoso is saying that Canelo doesn’t “avoid anyone,” but that doesn’t answer the question as to why he hasn’t fought Benavidez or any of these other fighters:
- Jermall Charlo
- Gennadiy Golovkin – waiting for trilogy match since 2018
- Demetrius Andrade
- Artur Beterbiev
- Dimitry Bivol
- Joe Smith Jr
If you’re Canelo, how on earth do you not fight those guys for the last three years? Assuming Canelo hasn’t been avoiding them, why didn’t he fight any of them?
Reynoso says Canelo isn’t avoiding Benavidez, but he hasn’t fought him or any of those talents in the last three years. I mean, is it asking too much of Canelo for him to face Beterbiev, Bivol, Andrade, and Charlo? I smell fear.
Instead of facing the above murderer’s row, Canelo has eaten up the last three years of his career facing these boxers:
- Avni Yildirim
- Callum Smith
- Sergey Kovalev
- Daniel Jacobs
- Rocky Fielding
Those five guys don’t match up with any of the six fighters that Canelo should have fought in the last six years.
For example, if you have Jermall Charlo fight all of those guys, he’d have knocked them all out and did a better job than Canelo.
Benavidez says he will attempt a different approach to getting a fight against Canelo Alvarez by trying to earn it inside the ring slowly but surely.
In a sign that he’s given up trying to get the Canelo fight, Benavidez says he won’t call him out anyone, and he’ll try and “earn” the fight against him instead by beating the best fighters. Good luck with that.
The fighters that Benavidez needs to face for him to “earn” a fight with Alvarez have shown no desire to fight him, and that’s probably not going to change.
“I want to earn the Canelo fight, I feel like the way I earn the Canelo fight is going through all these people (Billy Joe Saunders, Jermall Charlo, Caleb Plant), and I’m sure I can make it happen,” said Benavidez to the Last Stand.
Getting any of those guys to fight Benavidez may prove to be impossible because none of them has shown any interest in facing him thus far.
Most would agree, Benavidez is making a mistake by backing off from calling Canelo out and hoping that he’ll turn his attention to facing him.
Look at the facts. Canelo wasn’t fighting Benavidez all these years when he wasn’t calling him out, so why would things change in that area if he pipes down? If anything, Benavidez will continue to be ignored by Canelo if he stops calling him out.
This Saturday, on March 13th, Benavidez will be returning to action against the capable Ronald Ellis (18-1-2, 12 KOs) in a 12-round fight in the main event on Showtime from the Mohegan Sun Casino, Uncasville, Connecticut.