Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez has been criticised for his matchmaking in the past, but this time he has made his feelings clear on the man set to face his long time rival David Benavidez.
Benavidez grew frustrated at waiting for his shot at Canelo and his super-middleweight titles so moved up to light-heavyweight for his last fight – a comfortable if not dominant performance against Oleksandr Gvozdyk.
That victory made him the WBC interim champion and first in line for a shot at the belts at 175, currently all controlled by Artur Beterbiev after he defeated Dmitry Bivol last weekend.
‘The Mexican Monster’ will now face fellow former supper-middleweight fighter David Morrell next. Like Benavidez, the hard-hitting Cuban moved up to light-heavyweight last time out and was taken the distance for the first time in eight fights against Radivoje Kalajdzic.
On announcing the fight – one which has been praised by fans as an impressive risk for each man – Benavidez promised a ‘banger.’
“There was a lot of names on the table but I wanted to give my fans the best fight possible. I reached out to David Morrell and his team to make this happen and we got the contract done. This fight really gonna be a banger!!! Two of the best in the division and two titles on the line, Let’s f***ing go! Date & Location to be announced shortly.”
However, Morrell’s debut at 175 was described as underwhelming by some and Canelo agreed with that sentiment.
The Mexican superstar told PPV.com that Morrell’s lacklustre performance had ‘disqualified’ him from being his next opponent.
Benavidez’ ultimate plan to get the Canelo fight is to win belts at light-heavy so he has some bargaining power. A win over Morrell will put him one step closer to doing that, whether or not Canelo believes he is a worthy opponent.
