David Benavidez has moved up in weight after chasing a fight with Saul ‘Canelo‘ Alvarez for some time.
Benavidez called for the fight with Canelo for some years and even fought himself into the mandatory position with the WBC. Despite this and increasing fan pressure to make it happen, the 34-year-old unified super-middleweight champion has been rather dismissive of the bout.
Though many think it is personal between the pair, speaking on Miami WQAM, Benavidez said his issue with Alvarez is that he was simply ‘blocking his chance at greatness,’
“It’s not even about him, I don’t care what he does, but he was kind of blocking my chance at greatness, going up against the four titles. I know a a lot of people do that in boxing, that’s not really my business, but that’s the one I did have a problem with. Canelo Alvarez.”
The 28-year-old then went on to criticise Canelo’s recent run of opponents, namely John Ryder, Jermell Charlo, Jaime Munguia and Edgar Berlanga.
“I wouldn’t have had a problem with that fight if Edgar Berlanga had went out there and put everything on the line. He didn’t do s**t. He didn’t do anything, just defence the whole fight not trying to get knocked out.
“That’s why Canelo is avoiding me. Because he knows I’m putting everything in that ring. I’m not leaving nothing to chance. I’m working my ass off and I have 100% confidence in myself and I know whoever I get in the ring with, I’m gonna end up winning. The people that Canelo is picking, we all know they’re not the best. There’s only one guy that everybody wants to see Canelo fight and that’s me.”
Not content with sitting on the sidelines, Benavidez has moved up to 175 pounds and currently holds the WBC Interim title, which he puts on the line against Cuba’s David Morrell on February 1 – sure to be an early fight of the year contender.
