By Robert Segal: WBC interim super middleweight champion David Benavidez will NOT be challenging Canelo Alvarez for his undisputed championship next but will face WBA ‘regular’ champ David Morrell Jr for his title.
Unfortunately, the efforts at getting Canelo to take the fight with the young gun Benavidez have failed, and he’ll now be heading in the direction of an arguably more difficult contest against the unbeaten Cuban Morrell.
The former amateur star Morrell has recent victories over Yamaguchi Falcao and Aidos Yerbossynuly. Benavidez will need to raise his game considerably from what we saw from him in his last fight against Caleb Plant last March because he’s currently not good enough to beat a superb fighter like Morrell.
After just four years in the professional ranks, Morrell is seen by many as the best fighter in the 168-lb division, better than Benavidez and Canelo. Benavidez could soon regret taking this fight with Morrell because he might be biting off more than he can chew.
Morrell has similar power to Benavidez but far superior boxing skills. Like many Cubans, Morrell has technical skills surpassing other top game fighters, including the 26-year-old Benavidez.
Boxeo De Combia reports that the former two-time WBC 168-lb champion Benavidez’s promoter Sampson Lewkowicz will match him against the unbeaten Morrell (9-0, 8 KOs) next in October. Canelo and his manager/trainer Eddy Reynoso failed to accept the offer, reportedly in the neighborhood of $50 million.
That might seem like a lot of money to most A-level boxers, but for Canelo, who is fabulously wealthy with a net worth estimated at an enormous $200+ million, that dough isn’t enough to tempt him.
With Canelo, he could eventually become boxing’s first billionaire if he sticks around for another decade. Whether he has the motivation to continue fighting that long is difficult to predict at this point, but it will require him to have worthwhile opponents to motivate him constantly.
Benavidez, although an excellent fighter, might be too blue-collar for Canelo and not have enough talent to get him excited about making this fight compared to other more charismatic fighters like Caleb Plant, Floyd Mayweeaather Jr, and Gennady Golovkin.
Canelo is negotiating a rematch against the unbeaten WBA 175-lb champion Dmitry Bivol for a fight in September in Las Vegas. Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs) is a fantastic and arguably the most gifted fighter in boxing today.
Although Bivol doesn’t get talked about as much as other elite fighters, his talent is on another level, which is why Canelo wants to fight him. Canelo wants to test himself against Bivol and learn from him to improve like the Mexican star learned from his fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Bivol is a teacher. Even if Canelo loses that fight, he’ll improve as a fighter. It’s not the Mexican star’s weight class, so he should be applauded for showing the courage to fight Bivol at 175.
