By Dan Ambrose: Floyd Mayweather Jr. told the media on Thursday that he’s NOT impressed with Canelo Alvarez going up to cruiserweight to challenge WBC belt-holder Ilunga Makabu.
Mayweather says the fight he wants to see is Canelo taking on former two-time WBC super middleweight champion David Benavidez next rather than face the 34-year-old Makabu (28-2, 25 KOs).
Floyd says he thinks Canelo is “DUCKING” Benavidez (25-0, 22 KOs), and he’s not the only one that believes this.
The boxing world has seen Canelo’s three-year journey to becoming the undisputed champion at 168 as essentially an excuse to duck Benavidez, Jermall Charlo, Gennadiy Golovkin, and Demetrius Andrade.
Canelo was supposed to take the baton from Mayweather to become the ‘Face of Boxing’ after he retired, but he’s failed to take his lead in showing courage to fight the best.
It’s been a pathetic race to the bottom for Canelo, following the path of mediocrity rather than the greatness that the undefeated Mayweather (50-0, 27 KOs) achieved.
Rather than seeing Canelo fight the elite in the last seven years of his career since getting schooled by Mayweather, we’ve watched him pad his record with soft fights against these lesser fighters:
- Amir Khan
- Billy Joe Saunders
- Avni Yildirim
- Caleb Plant
- Alfredo Angulo
- Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
Mayweather: Canelo is DUCKING David Benavidez
“Canelo is ducking David Benavidez,” said Floyd Mayweather Jr. “Canelo has four [division world titles], and he’s going up to cruiserweight to fight a guy that is up and down. If it were up to me, we would want to see Benavidez.
“He’s [Canelo] going up to cruiserweight and that same guy [Ilunga Makabu at the Mayweather Boxing gym. The guys get the best of him. Benavidez can beat that same guy at 168, so he’s [Canelo] not doing nothing.
“He’s [Canelo] in a certain position like me. When I was in that position, I could pick and choose who I want to because I earned the right. Do I like this fight [Canelo vs. Makabu].
“Do I like this [Ilunga Makabu] fight? Absolutely not! We want to see Benavidez,” said Mayweather.
Benavidez, 24, has shown a lot of patience, waiting for Canelo to look his way, but even he was surprised when he heard that the red-headed star was planning on going up to cruiserweight to fight Makakbu.
Like many people, Benavidez thought that Canelo would turn his attention to him once he finished unifying the super middleweight division by beating the weak paper champions, but he’s got other ideas.
Canelo wants to become a five-division world champion because he believes it will strengthen his legacy. It’s unclear whether Canelo and his trainer & manager, Eddy Reynoso, think that.
This may be just an excuse to avoid fighting the dangerous guys that fans want to see Canelo fighting like Benavidez, Artur Beterbiev, Demetrius Andrade, Jermall Charlo, and Golovkin.
It’s pretty evident that Canelo has been avoiding Benavidez, and it’s disappointing because the fans have been calling for this fight for the last three years.
Instead of giving the fans the fights they wanted to see, Canelo has been fighting British fighters Billy Joe Saunders, Rocky Fielding, and Callum Smith.
