Canelo Says David Benavidez Using His Name To Boost His Career

Canelo Alvarez says David Benavidez is just using his name for clout to get attention on his career. No one would pay attention to Benavidez’s career without mentioning Canelo’s name.

Alvarez makes a good point. The 11-year pro Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) hasn’t fought the type of opposition during his career to turn himself into a household name and become a star like Canelo. Benavidez is now stuck fighting on undercards because he’s not popular enough to headline on PPV.

Mentioning Canelo’s name and complaining that he’s ducking has become a shortcut for Benavidez to gain some fame. It’s a superficial way of becoming popular because Benavidez is not gaining popularity inside the ring but rather by name-dropping Canelo’s name frequently.

It’s a cheap way to gain a following, but it’s failed to work for Benavidez to become a PPV attraction in the U.S. with casual boxing fans. You must do more than whine about Canelo 24/7 to become a pay-per-view draw nationally in the United States.

“They can say whatever they want, but if they don’t talk with my name, nobody’s going to look at them. I get it, I get it. They need to speak my name to get attention, so I get it,” said Canelo Alvarez to IFLTV, explaining the rationale for David Benavidez constantly mentioning his name.

Benavidez is fighting at 175 now, and he doesn’t look like he’s going to become a star in this weight class. In his debut at light heavyweight last May, Benavidez showed no power,  struggling to defeat veteran Oleksandr Gvozdyk by a 12-round unanimous decision in a fight much closer than the generous scores the judges turned in.

It’s probably too late for Benavidez to become a star like Canelo because he’s failed to take the challenges that he needed to make the leap to stardom in his career. What he needs to do is make the best of it at 175 or 200 by forgetting about Canelo and beating the winner of the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol fight.

If Benavidez can become undisputed champion at light heavyweight, it will help his career, and he won’t need to keep clout-chasing Canelo. Benavidez can make a lot of money from fighting Beterbiev and Bivol two or three times. If Benavidez can beat those guys, he should move up to cruiserweight and take on IBF champion Jai Opetaia if he’s still holding a title by then.