David Benavidez and Canelo Alvarez have fights being planned by Saudi promoter Turki Alalshikh, but NOT against each other.
Alalshikh wants Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs) to challenge the winner of the June 1st fight between light heavyweight champions Artur Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) and Dmitry Bivol (22-0, 11 KOs) for the undisputed light heavyweight championship.
Benavidez Goes Gold Digging
It’s not the fight Benavidez has been campaigning for, but he can still make a lot of money, which some believe is his whole reason for pressing hard for the Canelo clash: the dough.
Fans see the whole reason that Benavidez has been barking at Canelo all these years is for that good clean cash, but he won’t need him if he can get the Beterbiev-Bivol winner.
The grand plan for Alalshikh is to have Canelo (60-2-2, 39 KOs) to defend his undisputed super middleweight championship against the unbeaten former three-division world champion Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs).
However, everything is still very iffy at this point because it will depend on Crawford and Canelo winning their planned fights this year.
Hiccups on the Road to Riches
Crawford will need to defeat WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov (10-0-1, 7 KOs) on August 3rd, and then Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis. Those fights still haven’t been negotiated or announced, so it’s unclear if either will happen. But if they do, it’s a tall order for the 36-year-old Crawford to win both.
Crawford is an excellent fighter, but he’s a 16-year veteran, and it’s believed that he already has one foot outside the door into retirement. He’s only staying around to catch a little extra dough to feather his retirement nest with a nice Golden parachute.
When you’re that old and the only reason you’re sticking around is for the money, it makes it difficult to predict a positive outcome for Crawford against Madrimov and Boots. His Excellency didn’t say whether he’ll still make the Canelo-Crawford fight if Crawford loses one or both of his fights this year.
As for Canelo, he has a risky title defense of his undisputed 168-lb championship against unbeaten #1 WBO Jaime Munguia (43-0, 34 KOs) on May 4th on Amazon Prime Video and DAZN PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
It’s going to be difficult for the 33-year-old Canelo to fight the 27-year-old talented Munguia, who has a Bivol-esque style of fighting with his combination punching and excellent power.
What We Might Actually Get
In the end, his Excellency’s big plans might not pan out, but what we will see is Benavidez taking on the winner of the Beterbiev vs. Bivol fight, assuming David defeats Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15th in their WBC light heavyweight title eliminator on the Gervonta Davis vs. Frank Martin undercard on Amazon Prime Video PPV in Houston.
Benavidez might lose to Gvozdyk, but even if he wins, he’s going to be up against it fighting the Beterbiev vs. Bivol winner.