Oscar De La Hoya Believes Canelo Alvarez Will Avoid David Benavidez
Golden Boy Promotions head honcho Oscar De La Hoya agrees with most boxing fans that undisputed super middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (58-2-2, 39KO) will never fight two-time WBC champion David “Red Flag” Benavidez (26-0, 23KO).
During a social media Q & A with the fans, De La Hoya’s statement hit hard when asked about the match-up between Alvarez and Benavidez.
Fans quickly dismissed this as De La Hoya hating on his former protégé. In fairness, De La Hoya has been bitter since Alvarez divorced him to branch out on his own back in 2020. Furthermore, he undoubtedly would not openly admit something like this if they were remotely on good terms.
Nonetheless, Canelo has shown a lack of interest in wanting to trade leather with Red Flag on several occasions. In an interview on The Last Stand Podcast, Alvarez snubbed Benavidez by picking WBC middleweight champion Jermall “Hit Man” Charlo, when asked who he prefers between the two.
CANELO HAS THROWN SHADE AT BENAVIDEZ
Recently, the undisputed champion mentioned he wasn’t interested in fighting Mexican fighters. However, after receiving backlash from the media, he backtracked on the statement during the post-fight presser after defeating Gennady Golovkin in their trilogy.
Next, Canelo was dismissive of Benavidez’ resume by indicating he hasn’t accomplished anything with beating only one champion. The hypocrisy in that statement is that in Alvarez’ entire run towards undisputed, Callum Smith, Billy Joe Saunders, and Caleb Plant each had only beaten one former champion also. The difference here is that all three of these fighters were current champions when Canelo fought them. Whereas, Benavidez was stripped of being a champion back in August 2020 prior to facing Roamer Alexis Angulo.
The boxing community raised an eyebrow after learning that Alvarez turned down a lucrative two-fight deal from Premier Boxing Champions to fight Charlo and Benavidez.
Hall of fame fighter Mike Tyson, who accurately nicknamed Benavidez the “Mexican Monster”, has been vigilant in wanting to fight the undisputed champion. He once called for Alvarez to fight him or vacate the same WBC title he lost on the scale.
Understandably this fight is not sexy to the loyal Canelo fans, but many inside the boxing community are interested in seeing this match-up. Until the fight happens, De La Hoya’s statement rings true within the court of public opinion.
By: Garrisson Bland
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