By Sean Jones: David Benavidez’s team is ready to offer undisputed 168-lb champion Canelo Alvarez a deal close to $50M for a fight in September.
Chris Mannix is reporting the news of the offer coming from Benavidez’s team. Whether Alvarez (59-2-2, 39 KOs) accepts it is unknown. He’s talked of wanting to fight Dmitry Bivol next after his warm-up against John Ryder last month in Mexico.
Benavidez’s best chance of getting the Canelo fight is if Bivol refuses to budge on his insistence that the rematch takes place at 168.
Bivol wants to fight for Canelo’s undisputed championship at super middleweight because he feels it’s pointless to fight him at 175 again because it was a clear win last year.
Is Benavidez ducking David Morrell?
This sudden urgency on Benavidez’s part to fight Canelo could result from having David Morrell Jr breathing down his neck. If Benavidez can’t get the Canelo fight in September, he will be expected to fight Morrell (9-0, 8 KOs), which he could lose. That fight must happen if Benavidez doesn’t face Canelo in September. He can’t dodge Morrell forever.
It might not work to try and entice Canelo by waving $50 million under his snoot because his net worth is estimated at over $200 million. Trying to attract Canelo with more money doesn’t sound like a winning formula for Team Benavidez.
Canelo was thoroughly dominated by Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs) last year, and what made it worse is that it wasn’t even slightly competitive. When Canelo lost to Floyd Mayweather Jr a decade ago, it was at least slightly sporting.
But the way Bivol schooled, Canelo didn’t look like he belonged in the ring with the far more talented champion. The difference in talent between the far more technical Bivol and the one-dimensional Canelo was huge.
Representatives for David Benavidez are prepared to offer Canelo Alvarez a deal that includes close to $50 million in guaranteed money, sources familiar with the offer told @SInow. Alvarez, 32, is coming off a win over John Ryder last month.
— Chris Mannix (@SIChrisMannix) June 1, 2023
After that defeat, Canelo should have looked closely at his long-time trainer Eddy Reynoso and fired him to find someone who could teach him the technical side of boxing.
Benavidez had talked of wanting to fight WBA ‘regular’ super middleweight champion David Morrell Jr. Still, he’s gone quiet about wanting that fight following the Cuban talent knocking out Yamaguchi Falcao in the first round on April 22nd.
Some fans think that the problems that Benavidez had beating Caleb Plant combined with how good Morrell looked against Falcao has caused ‘The Mexican Monster’ a change of mind about fighting him.
Morrell is one of the three fighters Benavidez should be fighting as part of his recent three-fight deal with PBC.