A two-time world champion appears to have made a U-turn on a potential showdown against pound-for-pound star Canelo Alvarez.
Canelo has maintained his dominance in the super middleweight division since he captured the undisputed championship with a comprehensive win over Caleb Plant in 2021, making four successful defences of his crown against the likes of Gennady Golovkin, Jermell Charlo and Jaime Munguia.
Canelo was stripped of his IBF world title last year after he favoured a clash with highly-rated contender Edgar Berlanga instead of opting to face his mandatory challenger William Scull, who has gone on to become IBF champion after beating Vladimir Shishkin for the vacant strap in October.
After years of pushing for a fight against Canelo at 168, two-time WBC super middleweight champion David Benavidez now looks to have made a dramatic U-turn as he admits he has no intention to move back down to that division after making the move to light heavyweight last year.
Speaking to FightHub TV, ‘The Monster’ made his feelings clear on a potential clash with the Mexican superstar, claiming he ‘doesn’t care’ about money.
“I’m not going back to 168. I don’t care if Canelo wanted to fight me and tells me to go down to 168, I don’t care about that money, I don’t care about none of that”.
Benavidez returned to the ring on February 1, defeating David Morrell via unanimous decision to retain his WBC ‘Interim’ light heavyweight title and win the WBA ‘regular’ 175 belt.
The 28-year-old from Phoenix, Arizona was floored in the penultimate round of the fight but had done enough on all three of the judges scorecards to avoid any potential repercussions and claim the 30th win of his professional career.
