By Sean Jones: Jose Benavidez Sr. says Demetrius ‘Boo Boo’ Andrade is “dangerous” and he’ll defeat Canelo Alvarez right now if that fight happens.
Benavidez Sr. believes Demetrius has the talent to beat Canelo right now, and he sees him ducking the unbeaten champion.
Andrade (31-0, 19 KOs) looked lethal last Friday night, stopping Jason Quigley by a second round knockout in a successful defense of his WBO middleweight title in Manchester, New Hampshire.
That performance by Andrade opened the eyes of many boxing fans, who now understand why Canelo hasn’t chosen to fight him.
Jose Sr. feels that Canelo won’t go down in history because he’s ducking the best fighters like ‘Boo Boo’ Andrade, David Benavidez, and Jermall Charlo.
Canelo (57-1-2, 39 KOs) skipped over Benavidez, Andrade, Charlo, Artur Beterbiev, and Dmitry Bivol to go up to cruiserweight to take on WBC champion Ilunga Makabu at the World Boxing Council’s new adjusted weight of 190-lbs for the division.
Fans see this move by Canelo to fight Makabu as a classic example of a cherry-picking action to select a beatable guy that is seen as the worst champion at cruiserweight. He will be weaker for having to drain down from the standard 200 lbs for the division to the WBC’s new weight of 190-lbs for their title.
Demetrius Andrade beats Canelo
“I think that’s another fighter that Canelo doesn’t want to fight,” said Jose Benavidez Sr. to AKHi TV when asked who he would pick between Canelo and Demetrius Andrade.
“He [Canelo] tries to make excuses [for not fighting Andrade], ‘Payday, payday, terrible fighter, terrible fighter.’ If he’s a terrible fighter, why not fight him? That’s another fight that people want to see.
“My respect to ‘Boo Boo,’ he’s a great fighter, and that’s another fight that we [David Benavidez] would like to have too, with ‘Boo Boo.’ He’s a very dangerous fighter too. My respects, but that would be a great fight for us, and we’d be willing to do that too.
“The reason I want to fight him [Andrade] is because Canelo doesn’t want to fight him. We want to show the people that we’ll make that fight happen, you know? I think I would go with ‘Boo Boo.’ He would really give trouble to Canelo,” said Benavidez.
At this point, the only way Andrade will have any chance of ever getting a fight with Canelo is if he goes up to 175 because after the Mexican star packs on all the muscle weight to go up to 190 to take on Makabu, he won’t be able to return to 168.
Canelo is ducking all the good fighters
“Canelo knows who the fighters are that would give him trouble. He has a really big chance to win. Canelo is the best at 168, but those are the guys that he doesn’t want to fight.
“He doesn’t want to fight David Benavidez, he doesn’t want to fight the Charlos, and he does not want to fight ‘Boo Boo.’
“So my respects to those guys who want to fight him, and Canelo does not want to fight none of these guys. I don’t think ‘Boo Boo’ is a terrible fighter, and I think he’s a dangerous fighter. Even if we fight him, I would never call him a horrible fighter.
“I think he’s a very dangerous fighter. We want to make history, and we want to fight the best. We’re not ducking anybody. If ‘Boo Boo’ is hearing this, my respects.
“It would be an honor to fight him also. Let’s fight. If these guys don’t want to fight, let’s make the fight happen.
“That’s what they’re [Team Canelo] known by in history by ducking all these good fighters. Everybody knows what happened. I don’t think they [Canelo] are ever going to get the respect of the people, and I don’t think he’s the people’s champ.
“Yeah, he [Canelo] wants to make history, but the reality is that people who know boxing will never accept that. They didn’t fight good fighters. They were just choosing their opponents,” said Benavidez of Team Canelo.
It does look mighty odd that Canelo NEVER fought Andrade when he was fighting at 160.
Also, Canelo’s decision not to fight David Benavidez at 168, Artur Beterbiev, Dmitry Bivol, and Joe Smith Jr. at 175 are hard to ignore.