Legendary boxer-turned-promoter Oscar De la Hoya has made a confident prediction for a potential fight between Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and David Benavidez.
Benavidez has been chasing a clash against the undisputed super-middleweight champion for years, but with Canelo showing little interest in facing his WBC mandatory, ‘The Mexican Monster’ will move up to light-heavyweight for his next contest.
He takes on Oleksandr Gvozdyk later this month, but hasn’t given up hope on a facing Canelo, saying they’ll be petitioning the WBC to order the fight for September.
Speaking to FightHype TV, De La Hoya predicted an ‘easy’ night for Benavidez if the two do ever meet in the ring.
“I think Benavidez will win and will win easy.
He has the better arsenal, he has the better footwork, the jab is incredible and just the fact that he’s young. You really have to look at that, it’s like De La Hoya-Charvez will be Benavidez-Canelo, I actually think they’ll be the same age and Benavidez is the bigger guy.
Look, I’m not knocking Canelo. I’m the one who got him a $365million contract, why would I be knocking him, it’s just ridiculous. When I say something about Canelo it’s criticising something inside the ring because I can, I’m a fighter myself and I can critique and I have my opinion just as a fighter. I think Canelo has done great for the sport, obviously we built him but he has done amazing, is still doing amazing but is he slowing down? Naturally, he’s getting older.”
Benavidez makes his 175lbs debut against Gvozdyk on June 15 in Las Vegas, whilst Canelo is still waiting to announce his next opponent having convincingly beaten Jaime Munguia last time out.
