David Benavidez believes superstar Canelo Alvarez was “mocking” him when he invited him inside the ring after his victory last month against Jaime Munguia on May 4th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Ringside Security: A Preemptive Measure
Moments after his win, undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo looked over at Benavidez in the crowd, smiled, and invited him inside the ring. However, a security person was standing directly in front of the ring, looking straight at Benavidez, and it was obvious why he was there.
It was to prevent Benavidez from attempting to enter the ring to take advantage of the cameras and the fans to call out Canelo to put more pressure on him.
Had Benavidez attempted to rush the ring, it’s reasonable to assume the security staff would have converged on him, and it would have been an ugly scene.
Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs) still believes Canelo (60-2-2, 39 KOs) will eventually fight him, and he says that after he beats him, there will be a rematch. In his mind, that’s where the big money would come in for Benavidez.
He believes someone will come up with the $200 million asking price for Canelo to make the fight possible.
A Calculated Move by Canelo?
“It wasn’t aggressive. It could have been more than that, but I think he was just mocking me to come in,” said David Benavidez to ESNEWS about Canelo Alvarez inviting him into the ring after his victory against Jaime Munguia on May 4th in Las Vegas.
Given how obsessed Benavidez has seemed about wanting to fight Canelo, you can’t blame the superstar for being a little wary of fighting him. Even if Canelo believes he will win, having someone obsessed is disturbing.
We’ve seen how Benavidez has done the same thing with David Morrell Jr, who has called him out repeatedly, and he won’t give the guy the time of day.
“I still want to be respectful. I wouldn’t want him coming into the ring after one of my fights. I’d probably slap the s*** out of him. Hell, no, he wouldn’t have done s*** to me, but they wouldn’t have let me in anyways,” said Benavidez when asked if Canelo would have slapped him if he came into the ring after his fight with Munguia.
Unless Canelo had spoken to Benavidez before the fight about him entertaining the ring, it would have been a mistake for him to attempt to enter the ring after the fight nonchalantly.
I could see a scenario in which Benavidez would have been tackled by three or four burly security staff, handcuffed, and taken out of the arena kicking and screaming, looking like a madman. That would have played into the belief many boxing fans have about Benavidez being an obsessed stalker.
The $200 Million Roadblock
“This fight is big. He should be thanking me because I don’t see him asking for $200 million for anybody else, and the honest truth is he might get the $200 million,” said Benavidez about Canelo’s asking price of $200M for a fight against him.”
I don’t see anyone, not even the Saudis, coming up with Canelo’s $200 million asking price for a fight against Benavidez. That’s too expensive because Benavidez is not a worldwide star to where the Saudis would be willing to pay Canelo $200M.
“I just want the opportunity to beat him and then the rematch because he will rematch me after I beat his a**,” said Benavidez. “Then that’s where I make money. But I feel like this fight is getting closer and closer. It’s too big to leave on the table. Everybody wants to see this fight. I’m getting better.”
It’s a mistake for Benavidez to be looking past his next opponent, Oleksandr Gvozdyk, on June 15th because it’s not a given that he will win that fight. Gvozdyk is easily the best fighter Benavidez will have faced, and he’s bigger and stronger than him.
“This is going to be the only fight that people want to see,” said Benavidez about a match between him and Canelo.
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