A showdown between Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and David Benavidez looks further away then ever.
Benavidez, who currently holds the WBC ‘interim’ light heavyweight title, has been chasing a fight with the Mexican superstar for quite some time. However, despite his best efforts, a clash between the pair is yet to materialise.
Canelo currently holds the unified WBA, WBO and WBC super middleweight titles, having made his most recent defence in September when he outpointed the previously undefeated Edgar Berlanga Jr in Las Vegas.
After multiple attempts from ‘The Mexican Monster’ to secure a showdown against Canelo came to nothing, the 28-year-old now campaigns at 175lbs, where he is due to challenge WBA ‘regular’ light heavyweight champion David Morrell on 1 February 2025.
In a recent conversation with Sean Zittel, Benavidez revealed he will never return to 168 where a clash against Canelo would happen and says it ‘feels good’ to finally let go of the fight.
“To be honest I feel like I’m only worried about 175. I’m not coming back down to 168. I feel like my body is starting to get used to 175. I’m building more muscle and I just turned 28 so I’m starting to get in my prime now. I feel like this is the lane I’ll stay in.
It feels good to let go of the Canelo fight, I just feel bad for the fans because they missing an awesome fight, it’s insane that the fight never happened as it’s one of the biggest fights in boxing so it’s messed up we couldn’t get it on for the fans.
I don’t think he’ll ever fight me at 175.”
Canelo is now reportedly in talks to face fellow pound-for-pound star Terence Crawford, with Turki Alalshikh expressing his desire to get a fight between the pair made at the earliest opportunity.
