With the help of WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman Saul “Canelo” Alvarez has successfully avoided his WBC mandatory David Benavidez for the past two years, and now that Benavidez is moving up a division, fans are wondering if Canelo Alvarez will avoid his other mandatory challenger.
When you achieve a certain level of success in the boxing ring, fans want the best to fight the best. On three separate occasions, David Benavidez proved he was the best challenger for the undisputed crown at 168, but unfortunately WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman never followed through with his commitment to order the championship fight.
Instead of focusing on his March deadline in regards to officially ordering a Canelo-Benavidez bout, Sulaiman was more locked in on getting Benavidez out of the way. Once Sulaiman achieved his goal of not ordering a Canelo-Benavidez fight, he proudly made the surprise announcement on February 22nd.
“Very proud to announce a sensational fight which the WBC has approved to sanction for the interim light heavyweight championship Benavidez vs Gvozdyk. Wish the best of luck for both champions.”
With this move, if David Benavidez is able to defeat Oleksandr Gvozdyk, he will be in a position to face the winner of the Dmitry Bivol vs Artur Beterbiev clash and have the opportunity to fight for undisputed at 175. Now that Benavidez is out of the way, the question is, will Canelo avoid the other big threat at 168?
WBA (Regular) super-middleweight titleholder David Morrell (10-0, 9 KOs) is a rising star in the 168-pound weight class. When it comes down to a possible opponent for Canelo, they’re saying Jermall Charlo, Jaime Munguia, and Edgar Berlanga, but no one is mentioning David Morrell’s name.
With David Benavidez currently out of the equation, the Cuban boxer David Morrell is the most dangerous opponent Canelo could potentially face. Despite having only ten professional fights, Morrell has proven that he is the most qualified candidate in the current field of possible opponents.
Jermall Charlo is a good fighter, but he’s not at the level he used to be due to inactivity and the personal issues he’s dealing with outside of the ring. Jaime Munguia is solid, but styles make fights, and Munguia’s style and lack of defense may not be conducive to winning a fight against Canelo Alvarez.
Edgar Berlanga posted a 6th-round knockout victory over Padraig McCrory on Saturday, February 24th, making him another option for Alvarez, but realistically speaking, Berlanga may need a couple of fights before taking such a big career step.
That leads us back to the immensely talented 26-year-old undefeated super-middleweight southpaw boxer David Morrell. A native of Santa Clara, Cuba, who now resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Morrell is a skilled boxer-puncher who has all the tools.
Morrell is fundamentally sound; he has good footwork, hand speed, and punching power; he’s defensively responsible and a good finisher. Morrell is a complete fighter, and he’s now being labeled as the riskiest opponent in the super-middleweight division.
In Showtime Boxing’s final telecast back in December 2023, David Morrell faced Sena Agbeko. With 1:30 left to go in the second round, Morrell landed two right hooks that forced Agbeko into a corner. Morrell proceeded to land a flurry of vicious shots that forced the referee to step in and put a halt to the contest.
As David Morrell ended 2023 in dominant fashion, he could start the year 2024 off in a spectacular way if somehow he was able to land the May 4th fight against Canelo. The potential matchup sounds good, but Morrell believes that fighting him is something Canelo doesn’t want to do.
In a past interview with 210BoxingTv, Morrell acknowledged that Canelo is the top dog, but he believes David Benavidez would defeat Alvarez inside the ring. However, Morrell feels as though Canelo won’t fight him or Benavidez because, in his opinion, Canelo doesn’t want to fight anyone dangerous.
When asked how he would approach a potential bout with Canelo, Morrell responded by saying he would use movement and his boxing skills the same way Bivol and Lara did. On Saturday night, February 24th, David Morrell was ringside as he watched Edgar Berlanga knock out Padraig McCrory.
During an interview with FightHype, Morrell said Berlanga had a good knockout victory. He went on to say that he (Morrell) is the best at 168, Berlanga is not ready to face him, and Canelo doesn’t want to fight him, but he’s ready to fight Canelo.
The missed opportunity of a Canelo-Benavidez May 4th battle is a major disappointment for many boxing fans, boxing legends, and boxing pundits. However, if we can somehow get a Canelo Alvarez vs David Morrell clash, it would be a great consolation prize for the fans and the sport of boxing.