Benavidez Blasts Canelo For Keeping The 168-Division Hostage – ‘You Owe It To The People’
David Benavidez has accused Canelo Alvarez of holding up the super middleweight division by not fighting him.
The Mexican Monster is the current WBC super middleweight interim champion after having retained the title with a win over Demetrius Andrade. The victory kept Benavidez in position to face Alvarez for his undisputed title. The former has been a mandatory for the WBC for around two years.
Benavidez Vs. Canelo
However, a fight with Canelo has failed to materialize. Instead, Benavidez has been fighting opponents that Canelo has faced, such as Caleb Plant. Although there is an expectation on the WBC to call the mandatory, there are reports that Canelo’s next fight could be elsewhere.
The boxer has two fights left on his PBC deal, with suggestions that a bout with Jaime Munguia is being considered. The latter is an undefeated Mexican, which is why a bout on Cinco De Mayo weekend could make sense. However, that would prevent fans from getting the fight that has long been talked about, much to the frustration of Benavidez.
“Why does he have all the belts? He should just do celebrity boxing matches. Why is he still holding the belts hostage and not giving the #1 contenders the opportunities they deserve? You owe it to the people; let’s give the people what they want to see,” Benavidez said
Crawford Vs. Canelo
Another boxer who has been on chasing Canelo has been Terence Crawford. The latter had expressed his intention to jump up three weight classes to fight the Mexican, given that a win would make him undisputed in a third weight division. In response, Canelo distanced himself from the fight on the grounds that he would get no credit for the win due to the difference in weight.
“Look, I respect Crawford, he’s a great fighter. Sometimes it’s crazy that people are talking about me fighting a small fighter like Charlo. He’s big. “Everybody is talking about if I’m going to fight Crawford, a fighter [who competes] at 147, who is smaller than Charlo. I don’t understand. I’m fighting Charlo, who is two weight classes smaller than me, and then you’re talking about Crawford. I’m not going to get credit for facing Crawford, but you never know in boxing. It’s possible. Why not?” Canelo stated
And yet, Crawford’s trainer Bomac was confident that Alvarez could be beaten. The same reservations over the size and power were made against Errol Spence Jr. when he faced Crawford. However, the latter dominated the fight by dropping the welterweight on three occasions to secure a ninth-round knockout.
Although there were suggestions that Spence may have struggled to make 147, Bomac felt that Crawford had the ability to exploit Canelo’s weaknesses. His defeats to Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Dmitry Bivol showed that he was susceptible to a counter puncher who could box and move. And those are some qualities that Crawford possesses.
“He’ll beat him. He got holes in his game,” Bomac stated
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