Paulie Malignaggi says Canelo Alvarez has a responsibility as the undisputed super middleweight champion and being the ‘Face of Boxing’ to fight the best opposition, and he wants him to defend against David Benavidez next.
Malignaggi feels that ‘The Mexican Monster’ has earned his shot, and a fight between him and Canelo would be massive on PPV.
More boxing fans would be interested in seeing Canelo fight Benavidez than Dmitry Bivol because it would be someone from Alvarez’s weight class and fans wouldn’t know who to pick.
It was a bad look on Canelo’s part for him to fight Ryder, which was a low-level tune-up that turned out to be tougher than expected.
It’s believed that the ring was intentionally small so that Canelo could get a knockout and impress his hometown fans in Guadalajara, but it backfired on him because Ryder thrived and was able to land more shots than he would have if it had been a larger ring.
Like many people, Malignaggi doesn’t want to see Canelo fight Dmitry Bivol in a rematch. Without going into his reasons, Malignaaggi say he feels Bivol is “not a good fight” for Canelo, and it’s obvious why.
Canelo is too flat-footed, his stamina terrible, and gets hit way too much for him to have a chance against WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol in September.
“That’s the fight that you have to make, and that’s where you start putting pressure on Canelo,” said Paulie Malignaggi to Paulie TV about Alvarez needing to face David Benavidez next, NOT Dmitry Bivol.
“If Canelo is the face of boxing and he lays another egg as far as the opponent he chooses for the next fight. This is why if you’re the name of boxing and you want, yes, you get that respect, but you also get that responsibility [to fight the best].
“Yes, the Ryder fight was good. I was personally entertained by it, but now you need to get that marquee opponent. I don’t want Bivol. I know he’s talking about Bivol. He’s also trying to underpay Bivol, and also the fact that the Bivol fight is not a good fight to me. The Benavidez fight is a good fight to me because you’re putting the undisputed title on the line.
“You got to stop trying to save the undisputed title to where you don’t put it on the line, so you always have it and keep the entire weight class at 168 hostage. You got to keep defending that title; otherwise, he [Canelo] needs to be stripped of his belts.
“You got to give the other guys a chance, especially a guy like Benavidez. He deserves a shot at the undisputed title, especially with the undisputed title with Canelo. I think it would be a monster pay-per-view, and I think people would be very curious about it.
“I think, honestly, you’d have a split as far as who people would think would win. Again, coming off a performance where you’ve got the momentum back. You got to make this kind of fight.
“For John Ryder, I think he doesn’t lose value in this fight. I think he fought well, he fought respectable, and he went the distance with Canelo and landed his share of decent shots as well. He showed some crafty ring generalship on the inside as well and was able to bully Canelo in spots.
“So, I think Ryder against any of the top super middleweights would also be a good fight and entertaining fight. I know a lot of Canelo fans thought this was a showcase fight and he’d get the stoppage.
“I thought he got a lot of rounds in and the rounds in that he needed, and he got to work on a lot of things in there. I like the way he was varying his attack. Personally, I enjoyed that part of it where I was watching him vary his attack, and it was effective.
“Also, you got to see the late part of the fight where he does need to work on his conditioning. So let’s see if that continues to be a problem in the future,” said Malignaggi.
