By Sean Jones: Jose Benavidez Sr says his son, David is “the new face of boxing,” having taken over from the worn-out Canelo Alvarez.
Benavidez’s popularity has gone through the roof since his dominating twelve-round unanimous decision win over Caleb Plant last Saturday night in Las Vegas. That impressive performance by Benavidez may have cemented Benavidez as the new face of boxing.
Unfortunately, Canelo hasn’t been able to keep his top spot because he hasn’t beaten a solid opponent since his win over Plant two years ago, and much of the shine from that victory was taken away by Benavidez with his win over Caleb.
If Canelo had beaten Dmitry Bivol last May, he’d still be recognized as the top guy, but he was trounced in that fight, and he’s done nothing since then other than beating an old Gennadiy Golovkin.
Jose Sr would like for the two-time WBC super middleweight champion Benavidez (27-0, 23 KOs) to destroy aging lion Canelo to take over as the leader of the pride, but it’s evident from the Mexican star is taking, he’s not going to allow him to fight him.
Benavidez the new face of boxing
“I think David is the new face of boxing at 168. He’s young; it’s his turn,” said Jose Benavidez Sr to Fight Hub TV about the ‘Mexican Monster’ David Benavidez. “It’s his era. The era of Canelo is done.
“The reason I’m saying that is because Canelo started when he was 15 years old. He has a lot of miles on his body. He was super disciplined. Now he’s partying a little. Now, he’s spending a lot of time golfing, and now he has a lot of businesses.
“He’s investing a lot of money in his businesses, and guess what? Sometimes you got to travel. When you lose money, you can’t sleep. So he has other things on his mind. The only thing David has on his mind is becoming the best at 168 and boxing. He only has one thing.
“Canelo has so many things, and he’s worn out. He’s not the same Canelo that we saw last year. Little by little, he’s deteriorating. He’s not the same because he has a lot of miles wore himself in the gym getting ready for all these big fights.
“So now you see the injuries. Now you seen him lose, and he’s not the same. That’s why I guarantee everybody that David will beat Canelo Alvarez.
“In my opinion, Bivol should be pound-for-pound because he did beat the pound-for-pound best. I think his father should have gotten trainer of the year. Nobody cares about these people. Did Bivol get an award?
“I guarantee you that if Canelo had beat him, they would have gotten all kinds of awards and trainer of the year. Who remembers that Bivol beat Canelo? No one even remembers that. I think David and Canelo will be the biggest fight for Canelo at this point,” said Jose Sr.
People want Canelo vs. Benavidez
“Everybody wants to see it. All the champions. Mike Tyson, Barrera, Julio Cesar,” Benavidez Sr said. “All these great champions want to see this fight. So, I think that’s a great fight to be made. I guarantee you that if that fight gets made, the tickets will sell in one day because everyone is going to want to be there.
“With Canelo and Ryder, everyone knows who is going to win. Is that a challenge? That’s not a challenge. If David is so easy, why not make all this money and shut him up? But everybody is scared. Everybody is like, ‘No, we’ve got to stay away from David.
“We talk a lot of s**t; we do this and do that. Eddie Hearn says David is an easier fight than Bivol. Okay, if it’s an easy fight, where are you going to make the most money? With Bivol or with David? It doesn’t even make sense. So why not? Let’s make it happen.
“So if it’s so easy, why not do Ryder, do David, and do Bivol? Right? It’s money guaranteed, right? But they know in their hearts Canelo will not beat David Benavidez, ‘The Mexican Monster.’
“Right now, we already have a contract for three fights, and that plan is Caleb Plant, David Morrell, Boo Boo, and possibly Charlo. If Charlo doesn’t get his act together, he hasn’t fought in two years, so I’m not going to sit here and wait for him to fight.
“He’s fighting on social media and all that, but that’s not making any money for him and for us. So we’re going to stay active. If we fight Canelo, good. If not, he’s going to get stripped of his belts. I don’t know what’s going to happen.
“We’re going to continue with our era and our careers, and we can’t be waiting for Canelo forever. We’re going to be looking at fighting in September. If it’s Canelo, good. If not, then it’s somebody else.
“That job is Al Haymon and Sampson to make that decision. We’re ready for whoever they want. We’re ready to fight, and we’ll fight anyone. We have to fight these guys in order to keep proving ourselves.
“I feel good, and I feel fantastic to be in the position we are in right now. David is super motivated, super disciplined. You could see that we’re in a great position to fight anyone at this point.
“He gives me all the confidence that we’re ready for whoever they throw our way. Let’s make it happen. You’ve got Morrell, a young lion coming up. He’s an Olympian. Boo Boo gives everyone problems. Canelo didn’t want to fight him.
“Charlo didn’t want to fight him either. I could just do like Canelo and go and fight just European fighters. I could say, ‘You know what? I don’t want to fight any Mexicans no more. But we’ll fight anybody. Mexicans, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Ecuadorans.
“We’re here to make history and prove ourselves. We’re not choosing anybody. Like I said, we have a contract for three fights. You seen David at 166. There’s no problem with the weight. Plus, you don’t see a lot of muscle. When you have muscle, you have a problem because you can’t burn muscle that quick.
“I don’t think there’s a problem. If they offer us a contract to do revenge against Bivol right away, we’ll take that fight. If Beterbiev is like, ‘Let’s make it happen.’ We’ll do that fight.
“I was thinking about Zurdo, but I don’t know if he’s going to do the weight. It’s too much. I don’t know what’s happening with him. Those are the three guys that I was looking at. Zurdo Ramirez, do the revenge against Bivol. He beat those two Mexicans.
“There’s another Mexican. Let’s make it happen. It would be big. But at this moment, we’re thinking about 168, and that’s what’s in our heads right now. 168.
“No, to me that’s like begging,” said Jose Sr when asked if he and Benavidez will go to Guadalajara on May 6th to be ringside for Canelo’s fight against John Ryder. “I have no interest in going to Guadalajara. That’s his show, his thing.
“I’m not going to go spoil his thing. That’s his night. I would like to go as a fan to watch,” said Jose Sr.