Jose Benavidez Sr., the father of David Benavidez, says they’re willing to agree to a rehydration clause for a fight against Canelo Alvarez so they can get the opportunity to face him.
The Flaw of Rehydration Clauses
The problem with a rehydration clause is that it’s useless today when wily fighters can rapidly rehydrate in minutes with clever tactics.
Even if Canelo stuck a 20 lb rehydration clause and insisted that the secondary weigh-in be staged within an hour of the ring walks on fight night, that doesn’t guarantee that Benavidez doesn’t fully rehydrate by the time he enters the ring.
Rehydration clauses are completely useless. The ONLY way a rehydration clause would work is if it were 20 to 30 lbs and with the secondary weigh-in five minutes before the ring walk and there was a way of monitoring a fighter to ensure no tricks were used to fully rehydrate.
It’s believed that some fighters use IVs to rehydrate, and with one of those used, they can rapidly put the water weight back on, which defeats the whole purpose of having one in a contract.
Jose Sr. told Boxingscene that they’d be willing to agree to a rehydration clause. This is another sign of desperation on Jose Sr. and Benavidez’s part to try and mount pressure on Canelo Alvarez to give them a fight, but it won’t work.
Canelo’s Not Falling For It
He wasn’t born yesterday. They need to move on already, move up to 175 or 200, and make the best of it against the killers in those divisions. Benavidez will still be bigger than most of his competition at light heavyweight, so that doesn’t change.
If he moves up to cruiserweight, where many believe Benavidez should be fighting, that’s a different story. He’ll be dealing with guys his size, more or less like Jai Opetaia, and in that case, he’ll have to depend on his boxing ability rather than his size to win fights.
Instagram Pleas and Begging Saudi Promoters
Yesterday, Benavidez posted on Instagram, asking Saudi promoter Turki Alalshikh to help him make the fight with Canelo, saying that he’ll fight for free if he loses and he would give away a portion of his purse to charity of His Excellency’s choosing if he wins.
The cringe is strong with this one; utterly desperate and laughable in that it shows Benavidez’s obsession with fighting Canelo.