Former two-time WBC super middleweight champion David Benavidez discovered last week that he’s not in Canelo Alvarez’s plans for his two fights in 2024.
What this means is Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs) will need to continue to bide his time by fighting non-stars in lower-paying fights, waiting for an opportunity that may never come to challenge Canelo for his undisputed super middleweight championship.
Certainly, Benavidez can stay at 168 if he wishes, keeping himself in limbo and likely being ignored by the only fighter he’s interested in fighting in the weight class, Canelo Alvarez.
Benavidez is kind of like a guy who has been rejected continuously by a girl. But instead of getting the hint, he keeps hounding, hoping she’ll change her mind one day. Instead, she reports him for stalking or goes to HR and informs them of the harassment.
In Benavidez’s case, he needs to get the hint that Canelo is NOT interested in fighting him, and he NEVER will. He needs to understand this and stop thinking that Alvarez will eventually give him the shot he’s been pleading for all these years. If it were meant to be, Canelo would have fought him back in 2018 when he still held the WBC 168-lb title.
Light Heavyweight Offers New Glory
Most would agree that it’s time for the 27-year-old Benavidez to move up to light heavyweight [175 lbs] and look to reinvent himself in that weight class against the killers Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
With Benavidez’s popularity, he could quickly get a shot at the Beterbiev-Bivol winner after the two fight twice. Whoever emerges victorious from their fights will gladly fight a popular fighter like Benavidez.
However, what’s unclear is if Benavidez and his dad, Jose Sr., would be excited about the possibility of fighting Artur Beterbiev if he’s the one who emerges as the winner of those fights. We’ve all heard the stories about Benavidez’s success in his sparring with Bivol, but he’s not expected to be the winner of his fight with Beterbiev.
So if Benavidez does move up to 175, he’s got to be willing to face the Beterbiev and deal with whatever may transpire from a clash of that kind. You hate to say it, but Benavidez could get exposed by Beterbiev and shown to be a weight bully who couldn’t handle it when he was forced to fight someone his size.