By Sean Jones: Promoter Bob Arum says Canelo Alvarez has not looked as good lately, and he feels that David Benavidez will be a “very competitive” fight for him.
Although Arum isn’t directly saying it but his comment about Canelo not looking good could be interpreted to mean that he’s now there for the taking against the ‘Mexican Monster’ Benavidez (27-0, 23 KOs), who is coming off a career-best win over Caleb Plant.
Most would agree that Canelo had a horrible 2022, losing to Dmitry Bivol by a one-sided 12-round decision and barely beating 40-year-old Gennadiy Golovkin in a surprisingly close fight.
Canelo doesn’t plan on fighting Benavidez this year, considering he’s defending against John Ryder on May 6th in a warm-up, and then he’ll be facing Bivol in a rematch in September.
If Canelo struggles against Ryder next month, facing Bivol or Benavidez is pointless because he’ll stand no chance against either guy.
Benavidez has been trying to get a fight against Canelo (58-2-2, 39 KOs) for the past four years, but his efforts at calling him out and becoming his WBC mandatory haven’t paid off.
Now after capturing the interim WBC 168-lb belt and defending it successfully against Plant, Benavidez has Canelo boxed in. If Canelo doesn’t defend against Benavidez by next year, he’s likely to be stripped if he doesn’t vacate first.
“I’ve always been a Benavidez fan, and Canelo hasn’t been as good lately as he was before, so I think that would be a very competitive match,” said Bob Arum to Fight Hub TV about a fight between undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez and interim WBC champ David Benavidez.
“Now economically and so forth, whether it makes any sense is up to the fighters, neither of which I promote, but certainly, it would be a very interesting match to see,” Arum said.
It would be nice if Canelo fights Benavidez before he retires because it would be selfish on his part to hang up his gloves without letting the ‘Mexican Monster’ face him.
It would be a shame if Canelo retired after his fights this year against Ryder and Bivol rather than letting Benavidez get a crack at him too.
Of course, Canelo vs. Benavidez makes sense economically. It’s a match that the boxing world wants to see, and it will likely do a lot better numbers than his recent trilogy against Golovkin and Ryder.
