By Sean Jones: Kyrone Davis says he thinks David Benavidez has the tools to defeat Canelo Alvarez now.
Davis feels that Canelo has problems moving his feet, which would be taken advantage of by the much younger 25-year-old former two-time WBC super middleweight champion Benavidez (26-0, 23 KOs).
The high-volume punching that Benavidez does would be kryptonite for Canelo, who has developed a bad habit of throwing only single punches in the last two years of his career.
Canelo used to be able to throw combinations, but he’s gotten away from that, and that’s why he’s looked so bad in his recent fights against Gennadiy Golovkin and Dmitry Bivol.
At this stage, it’s doubtful the 32-year-old Canelo will be able to return to throwing combinations like he did when he was younger.
Last year, Benavidez stopped Davis in the seventh round of a one-sided fight. Davis gave it a good try, but he was a punching bag for Benavidez until the contest was thankfully halted in the seventh.
Canelo has shown signs of slippage in his last two fights against Golovkin and Bivol, looking nothing like the fighter that had beaten a handful of paper champions in 2021 at super middleweight.
It probably doesn’t matter if Benavidez can beat Canelo because the red-haired star has already said he will not fight Mexican fighters. Unless Canelo changes his mind about that, we’ll not see Benavidez and him mixing it up.
Benavidez won’t be fighting until January, according to his manager Sampson Lewkowicz. That means he’ll have only fought once this year, which is disappointing because he’s not staying active enough to build his star power.
Canelo hasn’t looked like the same fighter after devoting the last four years to beating weaker opposition like Billy Joe Saunders, Avni Yildirim, and Caleb Plant. When Canelo fought someone good for a change against Bivol, he was totally schooled in an embarrassing loss.
“I think David [Benavidez] can. He has all the necessary tools. Canelo has flaws, moving his feet,” said Kyrone Davis to Fighthype when asked if David Benavidez can beat Canelo Alvarez.
“Benavidez snowballs his punches. It might be enough to win a decision. I don’t know for sure. They’ve got to fight the fight. Benavidez is a great talent. I’ve been in there with him.
“I feel like if I had more time to prepare, it would have been totally different. In his career, I think he’s [Benavidez] done a great job, and I think it would be a 50-50 fight.
“I think he’s a hungry fighter. You can tell he works hard, he’s determined, and he’s a former champion. You got to take your hat off to him. What I will say is this. There are mistakes in everybody’s game.
“We’re at the highest level, and every little thing matters. I don’t know how he prepared for the fight. I don’t know how he trained for the fight. When I took the fight, I know that I’m capable of being on his level, and I know if he’s slipping, I know I can beat him.
“He was on his A game, and he was prepared for the fight like he was supposed to have prepared for the fight. I only had two weeks. I went in there and fought, and it was a good fight, but he ended up getting the victory.
“I know if I was 100%, that fight would have been totally different. But you know, I can say this, I can say that. It doesn’t really matter to nobody. What I need to do is show people that I’m prepared and ready to fight anybody at 168, and I’ll fight anyone at 160,” said Davis.
“Most likely January it will be,” said Sampson Lewkowicz to ESNEWS when asked when David Benavidez will fight next.
