By Dan Ambrose: Oscar De La Hoya doesn’t like that Canelo Alvarez has been saying recently that he doesn’t wish to fight Mexican fighters.
De La Hoya reveals that he’s got two fighters, Jaime Munguia and Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez, whom he believes Canelo (58-2-1, 39 KOs) doesn’t wish to fight because they’re young, they throw combinations, and they’ll bring it to him.
The third fighter that De La Hoya mentioned that is on Canelo’s avoid list is unbeaten former two-time WBC super middleweight champion David Benavidez, who is his mandatory challenger for his WBC strap.
Many boxing fans already believe Canelo is avoiding Benavidez (26-0, 23 KOs) because he’s a bad match-up for him. Benavidez throws a lot of punches and hits hard, and he’s young at 25.
Benavidez checks all the boxes for being the type of fighter that would give the former four-division world champion Canelo nightmares.
“As a fan, I don’t like the fact that Canelo is beating the drum, saying he doesn’t want to fight Mexican fighters,” said Oscar De La Hoya to Fight Hub TV.
Canelo choosing to avoid Mexican fighters is one way of extending his career a little longer, but at the same time, it prevents him from making the big that he’s been accustomed to getting for his fights.
It’s unclear whether DAZN is going to continue to pay Canelo huge guaranteed paydays after his string of fights against the likes of Gennadiy Golovkin, Dmitry Bivol, Billy Joe Saunders, Avni Yildirim, and Rocky Fielding.
There are rumors that Canelo’s last fight against Golovkin lost money for DAZN, as they paid both guys a ton of dough for a match that the boxing world wasn’t all that excited about.
The fights that the fans are interested in seeing Canelo take are against Benavidez, Jermall Charlo, and Bivol. If Canelo waits much longer before fighting Bivol again, the fans will lose interest in seeing that match just like they did with the recent Canelo-Golovkin trilogy.
“So, who are the Mexican fighters? Zurdo [Ramirez], Benavidez, Munguia. These are the guys that are going to bring it to him, that are going to throw a lot of punches, that are going to be active, that are going to be throwing combinations, and that are going to be younger.
“I don’t really understand it because when you’re the best, you fight the best, no matter what. I think that any Mexican fighter out there that has a name and has a record and has a world title can be very dangerous for Canelo,” said De La Hoya.
