By Jim Calfa: Canelo Alvarez is less than impressed with the next fights for the unbeaten David Benavidez and Jermall Charlo. Benavidez fights David Lemieux, whereas Charlo faces the recently beaten Maciel Sulecki.
It’s one of those situations where the superstar Canelo (57-1-2, 39 KOs) expects Benavidez & Charlo to be able to fight whoever they want in the same way he can. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way for dangerous fighters like Benavidez and Charlo, as they’re avoided.
Canelo has been open about his desire that the former two-time WBC super-middleweight champion Benavidez face Charlo and that he would fight the winner.
However, Benavidez (25-0, 22 KOs) says he’s been met with roadblocks when he’s attempted to get a fight against Charlo (32-0, 22 KOs), so he can’t fight him.
It’s hard for the superstar Canelo to understand that Benavidez can’t easily fight the guys he wants to, like Charlo and Caleb Plant, because he can’t lure them with huge money.
Canelo’s popularity enables him to pick anyone he chooses, and they’ll readily agree without dragging their feet and making excuses.
“I don’t need to say anything. The media, you need to look at what they do and what I do. It’s different, big difference,” said Canelo about him fighting better opposition than Jermall Charlo and David Benavidez.
You can argue that Benavidez & Charlo would rifle through the weak champions Canelo beat at 168 in the last four years.
#1 WBC 168-lb contender Benavidez is fighting this month against #2 David Lemieux (43-4, 36 KOs) for the vacant interim WBC super-middleweight title on May 21st on Showtime Boxing at the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
The 25-year-old Benavidez is fighting Lemieux for the interim WBC 168-lb title because Canelo has shown no interest in defending against him despite his #1 ranked status as his leading contender.
Benavidez is fighting Lemieux to hope that the World Boxing Council will order Canelo to defend against him next or strip him of his WBC 168-lb title due to him moving up to 175 to face WBA champion Dmitry Bivol this Saturday. If Canelo wins that fight, his next fight will be against Gennadiy Golovkin, a middleweight,
Next month, Jermall Charlo (32-0, 22 KOs) will be defending his WBC middleweight title against #4 Maciej Sulecki (30-2, 11 KOs) on June 18th on Showtime Championship Boxing at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
Charlo, 31, could fight Benavidez or Demetrius Andrade. Still, he appears to be in a holding pattern, choosing to take beatable opposition while waiting for a massive payday fight against Canelo next year.
It might be unreasonable for Canelo to expect Jermall to take a risky fight against Benavidez because he’s not about to take that fight, given what he stands to lose if he gets beaten.
That massive payday against Canelo would be out the window for Charlo if he were to lose to Benavidez. The way Jermall looked in his last fight against Juan Macias Montiel, he’d have very little chance of beating Benavidez.
