Saul ‘Canelo‘ Alvarez hasn’t bowed to the pressure put on him to face David Benavidez.
Canelo is yet to be defeated in the super-middleweight division. He picked up the WBA and WBC belts by beating Callum Smith in 2020 before adding the WBO with a stoppage over Billy Joe Saunders in May of 2021 and snatching the IBF from Caleb Plant six months later to become undisputed.
Benavidez, who has never fought lower than 168, previously held the WBC strap in 2017 and 2019, losing it first after a positive test for cocaine and on the scales the second time.
He fought his way back to the mandatory status with that sanctioning body but a fight against Alvarez continues to elude him. The champion – now with just three of the four belts after being stripped of the IBF earlier this year – has slapped a £150 – $200 million price tag on the bout, explaining:
“All I see is that Benavidez weighs 25 or 30 pounds more than I do on the day of the fight. I have no problem with that, but if you want me to fight with him it’s $200 million.”
In a more recent interview with DAZN, Canelo said that he knew he was better than the 27-year-old but was asking for big money because there would just be another fighter people demanded him to face straight after.
“Look, I’m better than him for sure. I always fought with everybody that the people say I’m not gonna fight … If I beat him, they’re gonna say another fighter, so [they] need to ask. If they really want to see the fight, pay me good.”
Asked if Benavidez winning more makes the fight worth more, he said yes.
“Yeah. We can wait. You seen it [with Mayweather and Pacquiao] but I don’t do it for the especially.”
In contrast, Benavidez has become tired of waiting. He moved up to light heavyweight for his latest fight and has decided to remain in that division as a mandatory challenger for the winner of the undisputed contest between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
Canelo, meanwhile, will defend his unified titles against undefeated contender Edgar Berlanga on September 14.
