David Benevidez won’t ever get a chance to fight Canelo Alvarez, according to promoter Leonard Ellerbe. He says that Canelo’s promoters at Golden Boy Promotions will never allow him to face the talented former WBC super-middleweight champion Benavidez (23-0, 20 KOs) because he’s too talented.
The Mayweather Promotions CEO Ellerbe says both Benavidez and Caleb Plant would both beat Canelo Alvarez, but they’d also not be picked to face him either.
Ellerbe states that the 23-year-old Benavidez would be a stylistic nightmare for the 30-year-old Canelo due to his size, power, and speed. The combination of attributes that Benavidez has going for him will keep Golden Boy from ever letting Canelo face him.
In looking at the opposition that Golden Boy has been matching against Canelo recently, it’s hard to disagree with Ellerbe. Canelo has been fighting a lot of older guys:
- Sergey Kovalev
- Gennady Golovkin
- Daniel Jacobs
Canelo’s next opponent could be someone like Callum Smith, who isn’t old, but he’s not considered to be as talented as Benavidez or IBF 168-lb champion Caleb Plant.
David Benavidez looked impressive last Saturday night in stopping Roamer Alexis Angulo (26-2, 22 KOs) by a 10th round knockout on Showtime Championship boxing from the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut.
Although Benavidez failed to make weight for the fight, he still got the victory in battering the 36-year-old Angulo until his corner pulled him out after the 10th round had ended.
Benavidez won’t ever get Canelo fight
“Stylistically, that’s a great fight, but Golden Boy would never make that fight,” said Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe to Fighthype when asked how David Benavidez would do against Canelo Alvarez. “He’s big; he’s strong, he’s fast; all the wrong things for Canelo.”
Golden Boy has never mentioned Benavidez as a potential opponent for Canelo after all these years, which backs up Ellerbe’s claim that he’ll never face the Mexican star.
David has been a significant player at 168 for the last couple of years, and Canelo hasn’t shown interest in fighting him. Rocky Fielding, Callum Smith, and Billy Joe Saunders are the super middleweights that Canelo has shown interest in fighting.
Is Benavidez as good as Fielding, Saunders, and Callum? If not, then it makes sense for Canelo to be ignoring him. But if Benavidez is better than those fighters, then it would be a similar situation as we just saw from Canelo in picking Sergey Kovalev to fight last November rather than IBF/WBC light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev.
“Canelo is a tremendous fighter, and he has tons and tons of experience now because he’s fought Floyd [Mayweather], but there are certain stylistic match-ups you won’t see him in with. That’s a compliment t their [Golden Boy Promotions] matchmaking. Their very good at matchmaking,” said Ellerbe.
So basically, Ellerbe is saying that Golden Boy Promotions have been cherry-picking Canelo’s opponents rather than matching him against the best. If Golden Boy been carefully selecting Canelo’s opposition all these years, does that still make him ‘The Face of Boxing,’ or does it suggest that he’s a product of careful matchmaking?
Is Alvarez capable of beating Benavidez, Beterbiev & Plant?
If this were the NFL and a team was allowed to place only teams with an 8-8 record in Super Bowl games, should be recognized as #1? That’s the question that pops into one’s mind when they hear Ellerbe talk about Canelo never being allowed to fight someone like Benavidez.
If Canelo isn’t facing the best, then can he still be considered as the best or do you see him as an opportunist, which is a label that Andre Ward gave to him recently. Ward said Canelo would never fight Artur Beterbiev, and thus far, he’s been correct.
“Robert [Garcia] and Eric [Gomez of Golden Boy] do a great job at that stuff,” said Ellerbe in discussing the way Canelo’s opponents are carefully selected for each fight. “In my opinion, Caleb [Plant] and Benavidez beat Canelo. Both guys beat him,” said Ellerbe.
As talented as Caleb Plant and Benavidez are both looking right now, you can make a strong argument that they’re #1 and #2, respectively, at 168. That’s not a knock on Canelo, who is a superb fighter, but he looked very beatable in his last fight against the badly shot Sergey Kovalev last November.
Kovalev, who looked like he fighting at 50% capacity, was beating Canelo through the first ten rounds of the contest before getting caught in the 11th round after he gassed out. This wasn’t the Kovalev that had terrorized the 175-lb division in 2013, and this wasn’t a talent like Beterbiev or WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol.
Judging Canelo off his performance against Kovalev, you’d have to pick these fighters as beating him handily:
- David Benavidez
- Caleb Plant
- Artur Beterbiev
- Jean Pascal
- Gilberto Ramirez
- Dmitry Bivol
- Edgar Berlanga
Canelo calls the shots in picking opponents
“It would be [a big fight between Benavidez and Canelo], but they [Golden Boy] have other options,” Ellerbe said about Golden Boy having other options for Canelo rather than letting him face Benavidez in a risky fight.
“Canelo is the top dog, so he has other options. He’s in the position where he can pick and choose what he wants to do, and he’s not looking to run through a brick wall [Benavidez or Plant].
If Canelo wanted to impress the boxing world, he would choose Benavidez, Plant, Bivol, or Beterbiev for his next fight. At least Canelo would disprove Ellerbe’s theory that Golden Boy is cherry-picking his opposition instead of matching him against the best.
Canelo’s fans point out that he fought Gennady Golovkin twice, but the problem with that is he didn’t fight him until he was 35-years-old.
“He’s put himself in that position as the top dog,” Ellerbe continued in talking about Canelo. “He’s calling the shots, and I highly doubt [that Canelo will fight Benavidez or Plant]. I’m not his promoter. I give them [Golden Boy] a lot of credit for moving him.
“David Benavidez is cut a little different,” said Ellerbe when asked if Canelo will get in close and work Benavidez’s body to beat him. He has tremendous hand speed,” said Ellerbe.
