David Benavidez confirmed in an interview that he’s not going to go down to 168 to challenge Terence Crawford for his undisputed super middleweight championship.
Crawford Took the Stage Instead
Benavidez says that it should have been him who fought Canelo (63-3-2, 39 KOs). He believes that should have been his moment to fight Alvarez, not Crawford’s. However, Benavidez blames Canelo for not wanting to fight him, as he knew he would lose. That should have been ‘The Mexican Monster’ out there that night on September 13th.
Canelo’s Missed Opportunity
What the Mexican superstar Alvarez failed to realize is that it would have looked better in the eyes of the fans and in the record books if he’d lost to Benavidez than to Crawford, because he would have had a built-in excuse that he’d lost to the younger, bigger man to fall back on.
Instead, it looks bad that he got beaten by Crawford, who basically came up three weight divisions from welterweight to super middleweight to dethrone him.
“I have no interest in going down to 168. I’m not saying I’m scared of Crawford. He’s the man at 168. That’s his weight class. I think Crawford took it more serious than Canelo. He looked like he didn’t prepare 100%, throwing 10 punches per round,” said David Benavidez to Fight Hub TV.
Benavidez adds that he wouldn’t move down to 168 to face Crawford for any amount of money. He’s not interested in that fight. Again, he still wants to fight Canelo, but it’s questionable whether it’ll ever happen. If he wouldn’t fight him before, he’s not likely to do it now after losing to Crawford.
“That Was My Moment”
“His ego is so big that he thought he could walk through him, catch him with a big shot, and it would be done. I’m not happy that he lost. I just felt that could have been me. That was my moment,” said Benavidez about feeling he was the one who deserved to fight Canelo. “I would have had my hand raised, and that’s why it didn’t happen.”
Benavidez is right. It should have been him who got the fight with Canelo, as he’d been chasing him for years when he was fighting at super middleweight. He only moved up to 175 because Alvarez wouldn’t fight. Benavidez was more deserving of the fight against Canelo than Crawford, who had never fought in the 168-lb weight class.