A fight between Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and the unbeaten David Benavidez has long been coveted among boxing circles, but Alvarez has thus far refused. Now the sport’s biggest star instead heads toward a September fight with Terence Crawford, who is expected to jump up two divisions for the bout.
By all appearances, Alvarez continues to go to great lengths to avoid a Benavidez clash. But if you assume this latest “Canelo” detour frustrates Benavidez, you’d be wrong.
“It’s a good fight,” Benavidez said of Alvarez vs. Crawford on Uncrowned’s “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “It’s a good fight for both of them, but I think it’s more important for Crawford than anybody. I think if anybody could beat ‘Canelo,’ I think Crawford could. The size [makes] a massive difference, but like I said, it’s a good fight. I have no bad feelings towards that fight.”
Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) will naturally head into a potential ‘Canelo’ fight as a sizable betting underdog. Although the American sits at No. 2 on Uncrowned’s pound-for-pound list, he began his career at lightweight, which is six weight classes below the super middleweight limit where Alvarez vs. Crawford is expected to take place. Crawford has only boxed above 147 pounds on one occasion, his latest fight against Israil Madrimov this past August, and his performance was subject to some criticism; Alvarez, on the other hand, has fought as high as the 175-pound light heavyweight division
Despite this, Benavidez gives Crawford a seven out of 10 chance of beating ‘Canelo.’ He’s confident the size difference won’t be as big of a deciding factor in the fight as many believe.
“Crawford is good, and I think he’s known that he’s going to fight ‘Canelo’ for a long, long time. Crawford, he likes to [lift] weights, so I’m sure he’s been working on [lifting] weights for a long, long time,” Benavidez said.
“When the person has [a high boxing] IQ like that, if you do enough weights and you stay working for a long time, you have a puncher’s chance — and you can definitely make the other guy uncomfortable, hurt him a couple [of] times. Crawford is a really good fighter. I wouldn’t be surprised if he wins.”
Alongside a Crawford fight, rumors have continued to swirl about the potential of novice boxer Jake Paul stepping into the ring with ‘Canelo’ in May. Although both matchups are highly lucrative for Alvarez, they are also telling about his ambitions in the sport moving forward.
Despite that, Benavidez still believes he’ll share the ring with Alvarez before all is said and done.
“I think it will happen,” Benavidez said. “I’ve just got to keep doing what I’m doing. Now what I’ve showed is that I’m a big enough name. David Morrell wasn’t really that known, but we still sold out 20,000 people in the T-Mobile Arena. I’m sure the pay-per-view [sales] are pretty good.
“I think I’m making my case and I still have a lot of room to grow. I don’t know when ‘Canelo’ is going to retire, but by the time [I get the ‘Canelo’ fight], maybe in a couple years, this fight will probably be even bigger than it was when people were first talking about it. I’ll have more titles, ‘Canelo’ will probably have more titles. It’ll just make for a bigger fight, kind of like Mayweather-Pacquiao.”
Benavidez earned the best win of his career this past Saturday in Las Vegas, rising from the canvas to claim a comfortable unanimous decision over Cuba’s Morrell. By doing so, Benavidez firmly asserted his position as the top challenger for the winner of the Feb. 22 Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol undisputed title rematch.
“I was very happy with this fight,” Benavidez said. “I knew exactly what we were going into, I knew David Morrell is a strong fighter, I knew he has power in both hands. But I think I showed exactly who I am in this fight. Even after I received a heavy shot in Round 4, I still stayed in there and still decided to brawl with him, and that’s exactly who I am.”
Benavidez was knocked down for the second time in his career in Round 11 but rose off the floor and went on to rock Morrell in the 12th and final round. Benavidez already has signature wins over Caleb Plant and Demetrius Andrade at super middleweight, yet he believes his victory over Morrell signalled his arrival as boxing’s next major attraction.
“It did feel like it was the biggest fight of my career,” Benavidez said. “It kind of felt like my arrival to the big stage. What makes me happy is that [tickets for the fight sold out], the stadium was packed. We were able to do really good on the promotion, and the fight lived up to the hype. This is really what I’m here for — I want to give the fans the fights that they’ll remember for a long, long time. That’s what I feel we did [on Saturday].”
Benavidez vs. Morrell was an early Fight of the Year contender. Benavidez believes that was due to a heated build-up which made things personal for both men. Benavidez threw numerous digs at Morrell in the promotion of the fight, claiming that Morrell had purposely circumvented drug testing, his managers were cashing him out, and even claimed that Morrell would retire from the sport after their bout.
“It definitely was personal, and I think it was a little obvious too from the way we were both fighting,” he said. “When it gets personal like that — that’s why it’s good for the fights to get personal, because two men [who] really don’t like each other, they’re going to go to war.”
“David Morrell is known as a fighter who moves around the ring a lot. He didn’t use the ring at all [on Saturday]. He was going back and forth with me, and like I said, I was going to keep my word, I was going to go toe-to-toe. That’s what the fans love to see. I’m happy with the performance we both gave.”
As often is the case in boxing, Benavidez and Morrell now share a mutual respect for one another after sharing the ring. They embraced in the aftermath of 12 grueling rounds, and Benavidez even gave Morrell his WBA (Regular) title belt back after the decision was read out.
“I thought it would be something honorable for me to do in front of all of the crowd,” Benavidez said. “Just to let everybody know that me and [Morrell] made up, we both have respect for each other.”
Benavidez and Morrell were widely considered to be the No. 3 and No. 4 light heavyweights in the boxing, and with Benavidez winning conclusively, the natural next step is for him to fight the winner of Beterbiev vs. Bivol 2, which pits the division’s No. 1 and No. 2 fighters, respectively, against one another.
“I’m pretty confident [I will fight the winner],” Benavidez said. “To be honest, the only thing that I’m thinking about is that if Bivol wins this fight, they would have to do a rubber match. Me, I’m just thinking — who am I to say that they can’t fight another fight [if that happens]? Because they fought two great fights. If something like that would happen, I think I wouldn’t fight until they get that done with, and then I’d move into that fight after they have a trilogy.”
Beterbiev and Bivol, as well as the majority of top fighters in boxing, have staged their most recent fights under the Riyadh Season banner, backed by Turki Alalshikh and Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority. At the post-fight press conference for Benavidez vs. Morrell, Benavidez claimed that he wanted to have his fights in Las Vegas and build himself there, rather than fight in Riyadh. This could present a potential stumbling block for Benavidez in facing Beterbiev or Bivol.
Benavidez, however, confirmed that he and his father have already had talks with Alalshikh and that he plans to be in attendance on Feb. 22 for what many are calling the greatest fight card of all time, topped by Beterbiev vs. Bivol 2.
Benavidez will be supporting Bivol on the night, as Bivol holds a victory over Alvarez, and thus it could give Benavidez a potential argument to being a better fighter than Alvarez if he faces Bivol and wins.
“Basically when I beat Bivol, that would make my case that I’m better than ‘Canelo,'” Benavidez said. “I know Dmitry Bivol really well, I sparred him a lot, he’s a great fighter. We’ve had a lot of great sparring sessions, so I’d definitely love to fight Bivol.”
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