Former two-time WBC Super Middleweight champion David Benavidez has his sights set on some of the biggest names at 168 pounds.
The 24-year-old will return to action Saturday night in a Showtime main event against Ronald Ellis, but if victorious, Benavidez is interested in fights against WBC Middleweight champion Jermall Charlo and IBF Super Middleweight champion Caleb Plant before setting up a mega-fight against unified 168-pound titleholder Canelo Alvarez.
“The dream scenario is fight with [Jermall] Charlo right after and then Caleb Plant and then Canelo,” Benavidez recently told TMZ (via BoxingScene.com) That’s the dream scenario but the reality of making that happen, is very hard.”
As Benavidez acknowledged, it’s unlikely that his plan comes together exactly in that way, but fights of that magnitude could certainly be on the horizon for him. After all, he’s only ever lost his title because of issues outside of the ring.
In 2018, he tested positive for cocaine in a sample collected by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency (VADA) and was stripped of his title. He then missed weight for his fight against Roamer Alexis Angulo last August and was once again stripped of the title, making him the first boxer in history to lose the same title twice without ever having lost a fight.
With that being said, there’s no reason to believe that he can’t compete with the division’s best so long as he can avoid running into more problems outside of competition. And in his mind, he has the ability to present Canelo with a completely different type of challenge.
“The top people [Canelo’s] fought, they just look like they’re scared of him and they just respect him too much, but me, I feel like I’m a young, hungry lion! I need that fight because I wanna show the fans how good I really am,” Benavidez said.
“He’s gonna try avoid me as long as possible, but I feel like at the end of the day, this fight is gonna be demanded. Not by just me, but by everybody. Everybody’s gonna wanna see it because after he beats Billy Joe Saunders and Caleb Plant, who else is there left for him to fight besides David Benavidez?”
Perhaps Benavidez is right in his assumption that he’s the toughest opponent for Canelo, but he won’t get the chance to prove that any time soon. The Mexican champion will next take on WBO titlist Billy Joe Saunders on May 8, and if he wins, he could meet Plant in an undisputed title fight in September.
If his time ever comes, though, Benavidez believes he has what it takes to stop Canelo.
“I’ll knock [Canelo] out! I’ll stop him! It takes a lot of balls to say that but the reason why I’m saying that is because I really fully, truly believe I’m the one that can beat and stop Canelo,” Benavidez said.”
