David Benavidez wants to earn the Canelo Alvarez fight
In the super middleweight division, all the champions are patiently waiting for unified champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez to bless them with a phone call. Thus, this makes it hard for other quality fights to be made.
Former WBC champion David Benavidez (23-0 20ko) feels that more fights can be made instead of waiting on Alvarez, but first must take care of business against Ronald Ellis (18-1-2, 12ko).
The former champion’s ups and downs in the sport, by his own admission, were self-inflicted. There was the time when he lost the championship due to testing positive for cocaine back in 2019. However, the Arizona native would win back the title by stopping then WBC champion Anthony Dirrell only to lose it again on the scales in a title defense against Roamer Alexis Angulo.
This time, instead of placing him as champion-in-recess as before, the WBC dropped him back into the rankings. Furthermore, with Mexican mega-star Alvarez holding the WBC title, the organization added drama for his upcoming fight with Ellis by making it a title eliminator.
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During an interview with Brian Custer of The Last Stand Podcast, Benavidez expressed wanting to earn the fight with Canelo by fighting the other big names in the division.
“To be honest, I am not really thinking about Canelo right now. I feel like everybody is chasing Canelo, but I feel like there are more fights that can be made.”
“There are a lot of great fighters at 168 pounds. I heard about (Jermall) Charlo coming up to 168. Me and him have been going back and forth. Then there is Billy Joe Saunders (WBO champion), Callum Smith, and Caleb Plant (IBF champion). So I feel like, for me, I want to earn the Canelo fight, and I feel like the way I earn the Canelo fight is by going through all these people.”
Benavidez can scratch Saunders’ name off the list. The WBO champion is already locked into a huge unification bout with Alvarez for the traditional Cinco de Mayo weekend fight on May 8.
The former champion has the right mindset. Furthermore, the other fighters he named would be appealing fights to all the fans inside the boxing community.
By: Garrisson Bland
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