Shawn Porter, a web host, believes Canelo Alvarez will never fight David Benavidez before he soon retires. He feels that Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) would be a “nightmare” for the superstar Canelo if it happens.
Benavidez’s Return to 168: A Futile Effort?
If Porter’s prediction is true, Benavidez is returning to the super middleweight division for no reason because he won’t get the money fight he thinks he is by returning after his successful debut at 175 on June 15th.
Benavidez said after his tougher than expected twelve round unanimous decision win against former WBC light heavyweight champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk, he would be moving back down to 168, but the only one that he wanted in that division was Canelo.
If he’s serious, he’s wasting his time because Canelo won’t give him the payday he’s looking for, and the sanctioning bodies can’t do anything about it.
If they order Canelo to fight Benavidez, he’ll likely ignore them and either vacate or let them trip him, which won’t be good for them because Benavidez doesn’t want their titles. He just wants Canelo.
If Benavidez weren’t a true light heavyweight who is still young enough to melt down to fight outside of his natural weight class, Canelo would fight him and likely dominate. But given Benavidez’s huge, light, heavyweight size, Canelo doesn’t want to fight him, and you can’t blame him.
The Crawford Fight: A More Appealing Option
“Canelo is on the record saying, ‘Fighting Terence [Crawford] is a lose-lose,’ but he knows a fight against Davis Benavdez is a nightmare,” said Shawn Porter to Campas on The Beat, talking about his belief that Canelo Alvarez will choose not to fight David Benavidez.
Canelo will fight Terence Crawford if he gets past WBA light middleweight champion Israil Madrimov on August 3rd because the Saudis want the Canelo-Crawford fight. That fight makes sense for Canelo because it’ll pay well, and Crawford won’t be coming into the fight looking like a rehydrated cruiserweight the way Benavidez would.
“He’s also hinted, ‘I’m going to fight everybody before I’m done.’ I don’t know about that. He’s literally earned the right to do whatever he wants before he leaves this sport. I get why he wouldn’t want a night with David Benavidez,” said Porter.
Canelo has earned the right to fight anyone, and it doesn’t do anything extra for his resume to fight Benavidez because that guy has never beaten anyone to become a star outside of the hardcore fans.
Benavidez showed in his attempt as PPV headliner against Demetrius Andrade on November 25th last year that he’s not an attraction. His best career wins have come against David Lemieux, Anthony Dirrell, and Caleb Plant. That’s not exactly the murderer’s row.
Benavidez: A Highway Exit Canelo Will Avoid
“Let’s say it goes twelve grueling rounds, and he wins the fight. That’s just a night that I don’t know about that. I like this analogy. He’s [Canelo] been on the highway fighting everybody, and he’s fought everybody. He’s finally about to get off the highway,” said Porter.
Porter is making Benavidez sound like he’s this dangerous guy that Canelo is afraid of rather than it being a case where he’s a fighter who should be competing at 175, and he brings nothing to the table. When Benavidez had the chance to fight someone good for the first time, David Morrell, he turned the fight down. What does that tell you? He’d rather fight 35-year-old Demetrius Andrade than Morrell.
“Are you going to take the David Benavidez exit, or are you going to keep going by until you see another exit? You just keep going. You don’t want that. It just doesn’t make sense to me,” said Porter about his view that Canelo would never agree to fight Benavidez before retiring.
