Trainer Jose Benavidez Jr., the dad of WBC interim super middleweight champion David Benavidez, was bitter today at learning that Canelo Alvarez is heading in the direction of fighting Jaime Munguia and Edgar Berlanga this year.
Sour Grapes or Strategic Blunder?
Jose Jr. dropped the niceness act he’d used in an interview last weekend and lashed out at the ‘Face of Boxing’ Canelo (60-2-2, 39 KOs) for not fighting his son, David Benavidez.
He’s been saying nice things about Canelo, but today, Jose Sr. was back to his old self, roasting the Mexican star for preferring Munguia and Berlanga over David. It was hilarious to listen to how disgruntled Jose Sr. sounded.
It wasn’t the smartest thing for Jose Sr. to dump on Canelo since there’s still a chance they might give Benavidez a shot in 2025 if the Saudis want to see the fight.
Gloves Off, Excuses On
“Two years, we’ve been the mandatory. We’ve been wanting to fight Canelo for a long time. Canelo is the King of 168. He’s the ‘Face of Boxing,’ and we want to fight nothing but the best,” said trainer Jose Benavidez Sr. to Fighthype about his disappointment at not getting a fight with Canelo Alvarez for his son, David.
“We did everything we could to make that fight. First, he said he wouldn’t fight any Mexicans. Then he said that he didn’t want to fight David. So, we got to move on. I’m super happy with what we’ve achieved and how far David has come,” said Jose.
Interestingly, Jose Sr. is framing Canelo’s decision not to fight Benavidez as fear-based rather than a more realistic reason, the money not being there for the fight.
“It makes me very happy for Canelo and his team that he doesn’t want to fight David, because we must be doing something right. The most exciting fighter, the most feared fighter doesn’t want to fight David Benavidez. Man, that makes me super happy.
Canelo’s Decline
“Everybody knows that Canelo is at the end of his career. He’s not the same Canelo. He’s worn out his body with all the hard training he’s done. He knows that David can beat him, and he doesn’t want to lose to David.
“He knows that David is a young fighter, not an easy fighter, and a hungry fighter. That’s why he’s making all these excuses of not fighting David,” said Jose Sr.
