How long would you wait for an opportunity you’ve earned—one that could define your career and potentially end someone else’s? In boxing, where every passing year inches a fighter closer to retirement, few are willing to wait. But David Benavidez did. He spent years chasing a fight with Canelo Alvarez, only to be left without his shot. Ultimately, he made the tough decision to move up in weight, seeking his title opportunity against Dmitry Bivol, instead.

If the current chatter in the boxing alley is to be believed, ‘Interim’ WBC light heavyweight champion David Benavidez is getting close to finalizing a deal with undisputed light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol. The agreement hasn’t been confirmed—just that Premier Boxing Championship and Matchroom Boxing are closing in on a deal to make the fight. This comes after His Excellency Turki Alalshikh claimed he is not interested in a fight between Benavidez and Bivol.

Instead, he wants to make the trilogy fight between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol, who recently got revenge over his loss to Beterbiev last year. While Bivol seems to be going against the architect of the Riyadh Season, Canelo has gone the opposite way—he left PBC to sign a four-fight deal with the Saudis, which has put him on a collision course with former two-division undisputed champion Terence Crawford in September instead of David Benavidez, as everyone including Benavidez expected Canelo too. 

Amid all this boxing rigmarole, former world champion and current ProBoxTV analyst Paul Malignaggi revealed he was expecting, for years, for Canelo to be stripped of his super middleweight titles for ducking Benavidez. “I don’t think Canelo’s at his best. I think Benavidez would have run him over like a train, to be honest,” Malignaggi said while appearing in the Overdogs Podcast with Mike Perry.

“I’ve said that for years already. I said about three years ago, he’d never fight Benavidez,” he added, indicating Benavidez’s plans to fight him were destined to get ruined. “I was waiting for the sanctioning bodies to do the right thing and strip Canelo. They never did for not fighting Benavidez.” Malignaggi acknowledged that Benavidez might not have the “star power” for sanctioning bodies to strip Canelo and put Benavidez as their champion, but he claimed, “Benavidez is a guy who shouldn’t have had to move up in weight to get his title fight.”

Instead, Malignaggi believes Benavidez should have been given the chance to fight Canelo, noting, “He should have been given the chance to fight Canelo. He should have [run] him over like a train. And then, you’d sort of keep the wheel turning in terms of the next generation star is now budding and born just the way boxing has always worked.”

While ‘Magic Man’ continues to question Canelo’s abilities against David Benavidez, the question is, is he alone in doing so?

Keyshawn Davis predicts Canelo Alvarez vs. David Benavidez

WBO lightweight champion Keyshawn Davis believes David Benavidez would have the edge over Canelo Alvarez if the two ever fought. While Davis respects Canelo, he pointed to Benavidez’s size, attitude, and relentless pressure as key factors. “I see why Canelo don’t want to fight him,” Davis said in an interview with Fight Hub TV. “It’s the age, it’s the size, and it’s Benavidez’s attitude. He’s not losing type of attitude… He’s not scared of nobody.” Despite favoring Benavidez, Davis insisted that a loss wouldn’t tarnish Canelo’s legacy. “Canelo is the face of boxing out of everybody…Canelo is always gonna be Canelo Alvarez.”

With Benavidez now campaigning at light heavyweight, the highly anticipated fight appears unlikely. However, Benavidez remains hopeful. “Imagine if Canelo would just agree and fight me already…It would go down as the best Mexican shootout in boxing history,” Benavidez wrote in an Instagram post earlier this year. Unless Canelo changes his stance, this dream matchup may never happen.

That being said, Paul Malignaggi’s hope that Canelo Alvarez would be stripped of his title for not fighting David Benavidez remains just that—hope. Meanwhile, Benavidez seems to have moved on to bigger and better things in his career. Perhaps a win against Bivol could bring Canelo into the ring. What is your opinion on the matter?