David Benavidez says he’s in favor of fighting Jermall Charlo in a revenge match on the co-feature on Canelo Alvarez’s next fight in May, and he feels it would be good for the sport.
It would be a self-serving move on Benavidez’s part, a way for him to ratchet pressure on the Mexican Canelo (60-2-2, 39 KOs) to force him to fight him in September.
Canelo would have to give the green light to have Benavidez fight on his undercard, and given the way that he’s been obsessively hounding him, it’s reasonable to assume he would nix that idea straight away.
Why would Canelo agree to let Benavidez fight on his undercard if the ‘Mexican Monster’ is going to use the opportunity in the spotlight to complain to the media & fans during the entire build-up about how he won’t fight him?
WBC interim super middleweight champion Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs) says one reason he wants to fight Jermall (33-0, 22 KOs) is to avenge his brother, Jose Benavidez Jr’s recent loss to him on November 25th. The other reasons are the following:
- Money: There’s good money for Benavidez to make fighting Jermall, who is more people than anyone that he’s faced during his career.
- To eliminate an option for Canelo: Beating Jermall in May would remove him as a potential option for Canelo to fight in September.
- Increase popularity: Benavidez is still unknown to casual fans in the U.S. due to his resume only having two notable names – Caleb Plant and Demetrius Andrade.
Benavidez wants Jermall on Canelo undercard in May
“I think that would actually be a good idea if I can get a fight in with [Jermall] on the co-main event. I wouldn’t mind doing that. It would be good for boxing, having us both fighting on the same night. It would be really good,” said David Benavidez to Sporting News about his wanting to fight on the undercard of Canelo Alvarez’s next fight in May in a PBC on Amazon Prime Video PPV event.
There’s little chance that PBC could place Benavidez on Canelo’s undercard on Amazon Prime Video PPV because the money wouldn’t balance out, especially now that Premier Boxing Champions would be the one that would need to come up with the loot.
Giving Benavidez a big guaranteed purse would be risky because if the card fails to bring in enough PPV buys to cover costs, PBC would lose a lot of money.
Most of the dough for that event would go to Canelo and his opponent, which would likely be Jermall, and there wouldn’t be enough cash left over for Benavidez to wet his beak in the chief support bout.
Of course, if Benavidez is willing to accept less money than he’s accustomed to getting, it might be doable, but it’s unlikely that he would be agreeable to taking what would likely be a massive pay cut.
“I’m willing to do whatever. I’m not going to sit and wait for Canelo. I know I can beat everyone in this weight class [168] with no problem,” said Benavidez. “So, if they want me to fight [Jermall] Charlo on the same day, I’ll fight Charlo on the same day. I just want to stay busy and get my experience.”
The bad news for Benavidez is that if Canelo is fighting Jermall Charlo in May, he’s going to have to bite the bullet and agree to face the talented Cuban David Morrell if he wants to be on Canelo’s undercard.
Benavidez can’t trot out another old guy as his opponent, and it won’t work if he tries to set up a fight with the recently beaten Canelo opponent, John Ryder. Morrell would have to be the guy Benavidez faces in May, so that would be a deal-breaker for him because he wants nothing to do with the Cuban.
“Definitely. Exactly, you couldn’t have said it any better. I definitely want to get my revenge for my brother,” said Benavidez about his wanting to avenge his brother, Jose Benavidez Jr’s one-sided ten round unanimous decision loss to Jermall last November.
Obviously, Benavidez’s rationale for wanting to fight Jermall has zero to do with avenging his brother Jose Jr’s loss to him. If Benavidez were really concerned about avenging Jose’s defeats, he would have gone after Terence Crawford and Danny Garcia because he lost to both. Benavidez didn’t utter a peep about wanting to avenge Jose Jr’s losses.
Benavidez wants the Jermall fight because it means money and a way to pressure Canelo to fight him.
Focused on bigger names
“David Morrell is a clown. He’s there; he has nine fights. He thinks everyone is scared of him. We tried to get a fight with him before he got the fight with the Kazakhstan [Aidos Yerbossynuly]. Me and my father, and his team were talking. What did [Morrell’s trainer] Ronnie Shields say? That they weren’t ready for me.”
Morrell would be a huge upgrade to the opposition that Benavidez has been fighting during his ten-year professional career.
Let’s face it: Benavidez has fought generally weak opposition, and the two best names he has on his resume are an old guy and a fighter that Canelo has already knocked out.
The 27-year-old Benavidez’s career has been engineered in the same way Julio Cesar Chavez Jr’s was. He was another guy who would drain down to fight in a weight class well below his frame.
Benavidez’s best wins:
- Caleb Plant: Already knocked out by Canelo
- Demetrius Andrade: Old, inactive, and fighting two divisions above his best weight class of 154
- David Lemieux: No words
- Rogelio Medina
- Anthony Dirrell: 38-years-old
- Ronald Gavril
- J’Leon Love
- Denis Douglin
“Okay, now he’s [Morrell] talking all this crap. He wants to make a name for himself, but why would he reject a fight with [WBA light heavyweight champion] Dmitry Bivol?” said Benavidez, trying to pawn his problem, Morrell, off on Bivol instead of facing him head-on.
“Isn’t he trying to make a name for himself? Everybody is scared of him, supposedly, and Dmitry Bivol came out publically saying that he’s the one that ducked him. So, he should stop worrying about me and getting these other fights,” said Benavidez.
It’s pretty obvious now that Benavidez is ducking Morrell, viewing him as a threat to his goal of getting the Canelo payday fight. Morrell is obviously someone who would be too high of a hurdle for Benavidez to leap over, especially if he’s semi-drained from coming down from 190+ to make 168.
It’s one thing for Benavidez to be drained fighting old guys like Andrade, but it’s a different story trying to do that against a talented fighter like Morrell.
“If there’s no other fights, then I’ll definitely make a fight with David Morrell, but we’re trying, but we’re trying to make this fight happen with [Jermall] Charlo, and we’re trying to make it happen with Canelo. These are two big fights. These guys are solidified,” said Benavidez.
Unfortunately, the guys that Benavidez wants, Jermall & Canelo, aren’t available to fight him in May. So, if they’re unavailable to fight Benavidez, that leaves only Morrell.
PBC can’t afford to keep sticking Benavidez in with stumblebums like they’ve been doing for years because their cards have to be quality ones due to Amazon Prime Video not funding the events.
It’s all on PBC, which means Benavidez must face Morrell because that’s the only guy fans want to see him fight. He’s not proven himself as worthy of fighting Canelo. Beating Plant and Andrade isn’t nearly enough for Benavidez to have the honor of sharing the ring with Canelo.
“They’ve been there for a long, long time, just like Demetrius was there for a long time, just like Plant was there for a long, long time. These guys have more of a name,” said Benavidez. “They have more of a weight to their name.
“I’m not scared of nobody. I’ll fight anybody. You guys already know that. I really don’t think David Morrell is good at all. He beat a couple of bums. He has nine fights. Okay, cool. It doesn’t mean anything to me. I’m not scared.”
If Benavidez doesn’t think Morrell is good, why did he fight lesser opposition than him, like Andrade, Plant, Dirrell, Gavril, Lemieux, and Love? This guy is so disingenuous that it’s not even funny.
“I’ll fight David Morrell whenever he wants to, but we’re trying to get these bigger fights, and if we can’t get those fights, then I’m definitely going to shut David Morrell up because I’m getting tired of him. He’s talking a lot of stuff. To be honest, he’s not s***,” said Benavidez.
Open to fighting Canelo on non-holiday
“If we would fight, it would definitely be on one of the Mexican holidays because Canelo only fights on those Mexican holidays,” said Benavidez when asked if he would be willing to fight Canelo on a non-Mexican holiday, given that UFC plans on staging a card in September in the Mexican Independance Holiday.
As the saying goes, ‘beggars can’t be choosers.‘ If Canelo decides to throw a bone to Benavidez by honoring him with the fight that he’s been hounding him about for ages, he’s not in the position to reject it based on it not being available to take place on a Mexican holiday.
If Benavidez were to say no to fighting Canelo on a non-Mexican holiday, that would be the end of the story. Canelo wouldn’t give him the time a day for the remainder of his career, and Benavidez would be crying crocodile tears, regretting his decision to turn down the fight with him.
“It doesn’t matter to me. When it happens, it’ll be a massive card, whatever day it is. Whenever they want me to fight him, I’m more than happy to fight him,” said Benavidez.
“I only fight two times a year. I know how it is to make 168,” said Benavidez when asked if he would be willing to go up to 175 in May to fight one of the light heavyweights if he can’t get Jermall or Canelo in his next fight in that month.
“The only problem is if I make 175 and I like how it feels, I wouldn’t want to come back down to 168. But making the weight, it’s not going to be a problem making the weight. That would also be a dream if I get an opportunity to fight Dmitry Bivol,” said Benavidez.
Instead of Benavidez talking about being open to fighting Bivol, why doesn’t he actually do it? It’s forlorn at this point with the way Benavidez blabs about how he’d be willing to fight Bivol at 175.
It’s pretty obvious that Benavidez is just name-dropping Bivol’s name to get attention from fans, who listen to him talk and say, ‘Oh boy, Benavidez wants to fight Bivol. This means he’s fearless.‘ The problem is, he never follows through with his tough talk, which makes it clear he’s just using Bivol’s name for clout-chasing purposes.
“Imagine that. I go up there and beat Bivol, then where else would Canelo have to hide?” said Benavidez. “He wouldn’t have anywhere to hide. I think that would be great. There’s a lot of opportunities to be made, and I’m ready for every single one of them.
“You’re going to see David Benavidez against the best of the best, and I’m going to prove to you guys because I really do what to prove to you guys that I’m the best.”
We haven’t seen Benavidez in with the best, so he needs to stop talking about it if he’s not willing to do it. Calling out Canelo doesn’t count because that’s just about getting lottery money.
Benavidez needs to fight the best to prove that he’s worthy of facing Canelo, and the best way to run the gauntlet against these killers:
- David Morrell
- Artur Beterbiev
- Dmitry Bivol
- Jai Opetaia
“Not only to you guys, but I want to prove to myself that I’m the best, and that’s exactly how it’s going to play out,’ said Benavidez.
