By Dan Ambrose: David Benavidez will be returning to action after a seven-month layoff to take on tough fringe contender Ronald Ellis in the main event this Saturday night on March 13th on Showtime, 9:00 p.m ET/6:00 p.m. PT at the Mohegan Sun Casino, in Uncasville, Connecticut.
It won’t be an easy fight for Benavidez against the 31-year-old Ellis, who has won his two fights against Matt Karobov and Immanuel Aleem. Benavidez will need to use his size and his high-pressure style of fighting to wear down Ellis to get the ‘W’ on Saturday.
Benavidez will have a good opportunity to show boxing fans why he believes he’s the #1 fighter at 168 and why he thinks Canelo Alvarez is running scared of him.
It’s starting to seem obvious that Canelo wants no part of fighting Benavidez because he’s not taking an interest in fighting him despite the boxing world talking about him more than anyone else in the 168lb division.
This is a WBC super middleweight title eliminator for the Benavidez vs. Ellis fight. The winner of the clash will be mandatory for WBC 168lb champion Canelo Alvarez.
With that said, Benavidez says he doubts Canelo will choose to defend against him if he becomes his mandatory, and he fully expects him to vacate.
We won’t find out what Canelo will do with his WBC title until after he faces Billy Joe Saunders on May 8th and Caleb Plant in September. If Alvarez wins both fights, he’ll have all four belts in the 168lb weight class, and it’ll be up to him if he wants to defend against Benavidez.
“He’s going to try to avoid me as long as possible, but I feel like this fight is going to be demanded,” Benavidez said to TMZ about a fight between him and Canelo Alvarez.
It goes without saying that if Benavidez becomes Canelo’s mandatory with the WBC and wins another fight or two in 2021, the boxing public will pressure Alvarez to face him.
The two-time former WBC 168-lb champion Benavidez (23-0, 20 KOs) is fighting for the first time since being stripped of his title last August after failing to make weight for his defense against Roamer Alexis Angulo.
Due to the pandemic, Benavidez, 24, couldn’t follow his normal training routine in the week of the weight, which led to him weighing in heavy at 170 3/4 lbs at the weigh-in for his title defense against Angulo.
Subsequently, Benavidez was stripped of his WBA super middleweight title. Although he easily won the fight by a 10th round stoppage, he still lost his belt.
“I’ll knock [Canelo] out! I’ll stop him,” said Benavidez. “I really fully, truly believe I’m the one that can beat and stop Canelo.”
The combination of the 6’2” Benavidez’s size and punching power will reason alone to favor him against Canelo, but when you add in his nonstop attacking style, you’d have to favor him.
Other undercard fights for the Benavidez vs. Ellis card on Showtime:
- Isaac Cruz vs. Matias Romero – 8 rounds lightweight
- Terrell Gausha vs. Jamontay Clark – 10 rounds welterweight