David Benavidez believes a fight between him and superstar Canelo Alvarez can still happen if he captures the undisputed championship at 175 by defeating the winner of the October 12th light heavyweight fight between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
The Mexican Monster Benavidez isn’t giving up on his hopeless dream of a fight between him and Canelo, suggesting to some that his goal was money. He’s a lot of competition for that fight because Terence Crawford has been pushing hard like true campaigner, and Edgar Berlanga is already talking about wanting a quick rematch.
Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) thinks that if he becomes the undisputed champ by defeating whoever emerges from the Beterbiev-Bivol contest, Canelo will be eager to move up in weight to challenge him for the four belts.
The chances of Benavidez defeating the winner or even the loser of the Beterbiev vs. Bivol fight are slim because he looked very average in his debut at 175 last June against Oleksandr Gvozdyk.
The idea that Benavidez has to entice the reluctant Canelo further is to offer him a catchweight fight between 168 and 175 so that he’s intimidated about the massive jump in weight.
Canelo may not pursue that idea because he has only mentioned wanting to fight Bivol. He has made no mention of wanting to fight Benavidez unless his asking price is met, which reportedly is $200 million.
“Canelo says I can’t offer him anything. I think Canelo is a great fighter. I believe in myself, and I believe I beat the [stuffing] out of him,” said David Benavidez to Mr Organik, about wanting to fight Canelo Alvarez still.
Canelo is right about Benavidez not offering him anything because he’s an undercard fighter who isn’t popular with casual boxing fans in the U.S. Benavidez’s headline attempt on PPV last year against Demetrius Andrade bombed with terrible numbers.
“Now, if I have all four major titles at 175, in my head, that’s the only way that fight is going to happen,” Benavidez continued about how he thinks a fight between him and Canelo can happen. “I’m already in line to fight for all four belts at 175 against the winner of Beterbiev against Bivol.”
Benavidez’s vision sounds hopelessly deluded to the point where you got to question his sanity because he’s not going to beat Bivol or Beterbiev. He barely defeated the shopworn 37-year-old Oleksandr Gvozdyk last June in a fight that appeared to be a draw. Benavidez looked terrible in that fight against a guy who had been destroyed by Benavidez five years earlier in 2019.
“If I win all four belts, it would be a great fight [against Canelo]. Maybe we could do a catchweight. He could do the 168-lb belts, and I could put the 175-lb belts. So, we could fight together, and the winner takes all,” said Benavidez.
If Benavidez does beat the winner of the Beterbiev vs. Bivol fight, he wouldn’t need to worry about Canelo. He would be getting a massive payday in a rematch against whoever he defeats to pick up the four belts against. If Beterbiev, a rematch between him and Benavidez would bring in massive money in Riyadh.
Benavidez would obviously take a tremendous amount of punishment in two fights against Beterbiev, and he might not have much left after those two contests for a fight against Canelo. Two fights against Beterbiev will age Benavdiez.
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