Saul ‘Canelo‘ Alvarez takes pride in taking on challenges presented to him, but many feel he has avoided the biggest one in David Benavidez.
Canelo has been undisputed in the 168 ranks since a win over Caleb Plant in 2021 and he defended that status four times against Gennady Golovkin, John Ryder, Jermell Charlo and Jaime Munguia before this year being stripped of one belt, the IBF, for not facing his mandatory challenger.
He will face Edgar Berlanga next, once again opting not to make the Benavidez fight despite the 27-year-old being far and away the most worthy challenger in the division with the wins to prove it. Canelo says that Benavidez brings nothing to the table other than 25 pounds extra weight on fight night and has asked for $200 million to consider the bout.
In an interview with The Parry, former super-middleweight champion James Toney said it was a clear duck.
“He’s not ducking Benavidez, he’s running fast and furiously. He’s gone. He ain’t ever trying to look at David Benavidez. He don’t want that smoke. If he claims to be the best fighter in the world, you gonna fight the best fighter, you know what I’m saying? I fought everybody. If he called me out, I’d be like ‘bitch I got you next.'”
Toney was famed for his grit in the ring having hung up the gloves with an incredible 92 fights on his record. Ten of those were defeats, but he was never stopped early.
Benavidez clearly feels the same and has relinquished his mandatory status at 168 to continue his campaign at light-heavyweight. He is now first in line for the winner of the Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol undisputed fight, kicking any possibility of a Canelo bout further away,
