Saul ‘Canelo‘ Alvarez and David Benavidez have been spoken about as potential ring rivals for several years now.
Benavidez has held super middleweight belts twice before now but is currently an interim light heavyweight title holder having grown frustrated at not being able to lure unified champ Canelo into the ring. In his last fight he stepped up to the new division to beat Oleksandr Gvozdyk.
He has now decided to stick around at 175 for a shot at the winner of the undisputed contest between Artur Beterbiev and Dimitry Bivol in October.Speaking to Pound 4 Pound with Kamaru & Henry, Canelo was dismissive of his rival’s chances at the new weight.
“I think it’s his weight class, the weight class 175. You can see he’s very different, he can do nothing with a fighter who retired in 2019 and came with two easy fights. Look, it’s different when you are in your weight class and fighting with guys in your weight.”
He was then asked about negotiations with Benavidez and said he wouldn’t entertain them until after his next fight.
“I’m in the business. I can do the fights that are better for me. If the money is right it’s OK but I like to be conformable, I like to be in peace. They like to talk to me when I have a fight and I don’t like to work in that way. After the fight with Berlanga, we can talk and see and make everything sense. I’m not begging for anything, I don’t need anything, I’m doing my own business I’m good. So if you want to make that fight OK, we can talk after the fight.”
