By Dan Ambrose: David Benavidez doesn’t believe Canelo Alvarez is showing signs of slippage in his last two fights against Gennadiy Golovkin and Dmitry Bivol.
Benavidez insists that Canelo’s off performances against WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) and Golovkin were related to him fighting bigger guys with power.
Before those two recent fights, Canelo had been mostly fighting weaker punchers in Caleb Plant, Billy Joe Saunders, Avni Yildirim, and Rocky Fielding, and he could walk through their shots.
Benavidez notes that the only guy with power that Canelo had faced up until Bivol & Golovkin was Callum Smith in 2020.
Callum didn’t have the greatest preparation for the Canelo contest, and he fought a poor fight by staying on the ropes.
Some boxing fans would argue that Canelo’s last fight against a fading 40-year-old Golovkin clearly shows his deteriorating as a fighter.
Whether you want to blame that on too much golf for Canelo or perhaps the ring wear that accumulated from his fights at 168 in 2021 is up to you.
When you look at Canelo’s past two efforts against GGG and Bivol, this is a different fighter from the one that won the undisputed super middleweight championship last year.
“It’s just that he’s fighting bigger fighters with more with more punching power,” said David Benavidez to Fighthype when asked if Canelo Alvarez is slipping as a fighter after his less-than-impressive performances against Gennadiy Golovkin and Dmitry Bivol.
“When he had that run at 168, it was a good run,” Benavidez continued about Canelo. “Who was the first guy he beat? Rocky Fielding, Callum Smith, Billy Joe Saunders, and then Caleb Plant. Besides Callum Smith, all those dudes didn’t have any punching power.
“Then, when you put him in with a guy that has good punching power, he looks different. That’s what I bring to the table for this fight. I have punching power, speed, a great jab, and I have a great body shot.
“So, he’s not just going to be walking through my shots like he did with Caleb Plant or how he did with Billy Joe Saunders. That’s what poses a threat. Once you have a fighter that is bigger than you and has as much or more punching power than you, throwing back at you at the same rate that you punch, that’s when it’s going to get complicated.
“Caleb Plant and Billy Joe Saunders, they were landing some good shots [on Canelo], but they just didn’t have no power. That’s why Canelo kept walking through them, and I guarantee you, he’s not going to be walking through my shots.
“This is what we’re in boxing for. This is what we’re in training for,” said Benavidez when told that Canelo throws some heat. “I’m not scared of nobody.
“If you go in there, ‘Oh f***, let’s see if this shot hurts,’ then you’ve already defeated yourself. This goes back to what I said. If I go in there and believe I can knock a heavyweight out or a light heavyweight out, I got to be ready for anything.
“This is boxing. You’re going to get hit either way. I feel like I can go through hell and get through everything to get the win,” said Benavidez.
