Former Gennady Golovkin coach Abel Sanchez has predicted what would happen if Saul ‘Canelo‘ Alvarez was ever to face off with David Benavidez.
Canelo is the current unified super-middleweight champion. He has beaten the likes of Edgar Berlanga, Jaime Munguia, Jerrell Charlotte and John Ryder in his recent fights and has never suffered a loss in the division, only being bested by Floyd Mayweather at a lower weight and Dmitry Bivol higher.
Some of his matchmaking at 168 pounds has left fans wanting to see Canelo face a sterner test, and former two-time champion Benavidez has long been recognised as the man to provide it.
However, after years of chasing with no success, the 28-year-old has now moved up to light-heavyweight and scored two wins over Oleksandr Gvozdyk and David Morrell to become the WBC Interim and WBA Regular champion. The match-up with Canelo, though not a priority for now, still has the potential to happen.
Speaking to Fight Hub TV, Sanchez – who trained Golovkin for his first two fights against Canelo – was asked if Benavidez stood a chance of beating him and said ‘absolutely not.’
“Absolutely not. I’m just telling you what I think. If Morrell gave him that hard a time, what’s Canelo going to do to him?”
He then added that he doesn’t think Benavidez deserves the fight yet.
“He doesn’t merit it yet. If he’d sold out the place and had people waiting outside, sold out shows like Canelo, then even if he can’t beat him he merits the fight.”
As Benavidez looks to challenger the winner of the Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol rematch, Canelo is locked in for an epic contest with fellow four-weight world champion Terence Crawford in September.
