Canelo Wants Benavidez For The Right Money, Says He Beats Him And Munguia In One Night

Canelo Alvarez is happy to fight David Benavidez, saying he beats him and Jaime Munguia in one night. 

Alvarez will face Munguia on May 4 in a defense of his Undisputed Super Middleweight Title. The pre-fight build up has been dominated by criticism around Canelo’s career. He has been accused of ducking David Benavidez, who is his WBC mandatory. When Canelo was asked about fighting him, he demanded $150-200 million. The move was seen as pricing himself out, while Benavidez has moved up to 175 to box Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15.

The only people capable of putting up such money are the Saudis. However, they appear reluctant to do so with reports that Benavidez will face the winner of Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol if he gets past Gvozdyk. Alvarez could simply be hyping up the fight. However, the WBC will eventually have to decide whether to call the mandatory, or strip Canelo. Alvarez has now given an indication that he wants the fight for the right price. 

Canelo On Benavidez

“If the money is correct, why not? I can fight him on Saturday night too. Of course, I’ll beat that guy. If the money is correct, I’ll beat that guy the same night [as Jaime Munguia],” Canelo Alvarez said

However, the fight is less likely to happen now. With Benavidez moving up to 175, his focus is on becoming undisputed at light heavyweight. It also means it is much more difficult for Benavidez to come back down to 168. Any Canelo deal may include a rehydration clause on Benavidez, preventing him from adding on too much weight on the night of the fight. However, that will drain Benavidez, making it a lot less competitive. If that fight does not happen, Bob Arum is willing to put Christian Mbilli in with the Mexican. 

Canelo vs Mbilli

Mbilli is a rising start of the super middleweight division. He is currently undefeated with a 26-0 record, which includes 22 knockout wins. Following his win over Rohan Murdock in January, Mbilli called out Canelo. However, he must get past Mark Heffron on May 25. It is Mbilli’s first fight with Top Rank, increasing the pressure on him to perform. Heffron is an experienced operator with a 30-3-1 record. He bounced back from his loss to Jack Cullen, stopping Serhii Ksendzov in his last fight. Looking ahead, Arum wanted his man in with Canelo or Benavidez. 

“If he gets through the fight on the 25th, we’ll sit down with co-promoter Camille Estephan and try to go after the biggest fight out there in either Canelo Alvarez or David Benavidez. Those are tremendous fights. Mbilli is fearless in the ring. I don’t know how Canelo would feel about that. At this particular time, he can pick his shots. Mbilli and Benavidez would be a terrific fight. Camille feels the same way we do – no more messing around, let’s go after the brass golden ring. And that’s what we’re going to do,” Arum stated

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