By Dan Ambrose: Antonio Tarver wants Canelo Alvarez to do the right thing by fighting David Benavidez so that he can pass the torch to him.
Tarver feels there’s no reason for Canelo (59-2-2, 39 KOs) to be taking tune-ups at this point in his career, as we saw in his last fight against John Ryder in May.
He feels that Canelo needs to “challenge” himself by fighting Benavidez (27-0, 23 KOs) because if he wins, he’ll show that he’s still that guy. But if Canelo loses, at least he’ll be passing the torch to a talented fighter.
Some boxing fans believe Canelo’s heart is no longer in the sport after amassing a $200 million+ fortune, and he’s now trying to keep the money pouring in like a Texas oil well without effort by fighting weak opposition or old faded fighters.
Canelo is going through the motions, fighting only the guys he knows he can beat. For the fans that say that Canelo took a considerable risk by fighting Dmitry Bivol recently, they don’t know that it was seen as a cherry-pick at the time.
Bivol had recently struggled to beat a very average British fighter in Craig Richards. Canelo obviously saw that fight and felt that Bivol was someone he could beat. Now that Canelo has lost to Bivol, he’s chosen not to rematch him.
By Canelo saying that the rematch with Bivol must be under the same terms as the first fight a year ago, you can argue that’s code language for ‘I don’t want this fight. So I’m going to make sure that you reject it by saying you’ve got to agree to the same terms as last time with no increase in your purse.’
For example, Canelo’s last two fights were against 35-year-old Ryder and 41-year-old Gennadiy Golovkin. He could have fought Benavidez, David Morrell, Dmitry Bivol, Artur Beterbiev, or Janibek Alimkhanuly.
It’s obvious Canelo is artificially milking his career by swerving the talented opposition and fighting guys that are either shot or were never good to begin with.
“He’s still Canelo, but it’s a way a champ go out, man. You got to turn it over to somebody. Fight somebody that’s deserving of that opportunity. If it’s your last stand, then go out on your shield; if that’s the case, but challenge yourself,” said Antonio Tarver to Fight Hub TV about Canelo Alvarez needing to fight some solid guys instead of hand-picking weak opposition, as we saw in his last two fights against John Ryder and 41-year-old Gennadiy Golovkin.
“Canelo, I think he needs to fight a deserving fighter, somebody that he thinks if he wins, they can carry that torch, and he can be happy for the guy that defeats him if somebody defeats him.
“If he beats somebody that he wasn’t supposed to beat and he shows that he’s still the great Canelo, then he can ride out on his shield. But giving us these types of fights [John Ryder], I think at a time like this, you got to give a guy like [David] Benavidez a shot.
“Even though I like [Demetrius] Andrade. I like him because he’s been out there so long. He’s an Olympian. He won a medal. The man can fight. They won’t put him in there with anyone that can really give
him that platform to take off, and it’s just been.
“It’s how they do. They just let you rot out there, bro, and I just don’t like that because the man is a talent. He just ain’t connected with
the right people to get him these opportunities, but the man can fight, no matter what they say, and he’ll be a threat to all these guys you know, but they won’t fight him, and it’s a shame; it’s a shame, bro
“That’s the nature of the game, man, but like I said, it’s still a beautiful sport,” said Tarver.
