Dmitry Bivol Backs David Benavidez as Canelo Alvarez Remains Adamant on $200 Million Demand

David Benavidez can’t wait to get his hands on Canelo Alvarez, but the latter has made it clear it would take $200 million to make that fight happen! Meanwhile, Canelo’s former rival, who defeated him in May 2022, Dmitry Bivol has advised Benavidez to forget about Canelo and move forward. Benavidez is coming off an easy unanimous decision victory over Oleksandr Gvozdyk last weekend in Las Vegas at 175-pounds.

Having failed to entice Canelo, Benavidez decided to move up in weight for the fight. And with this win, the ‘Mexican’ monster is staring down the undisputed barrel in the light heavyweight division, as he can eventually get a shot at the winner of Bivol vs. Artur Beterbiev when that fight happens. Regardless, when Marcos Villegas caught up with Bivol during an interview, here’s what he had to say!

Dmitry Bivol doesn’t plan on going down

Speaking to Bivol, Villegas from Fight Hub TV probed him about Canelo potentially ducking Benavidez! In response, Bivol said, “Yeah, maybe, [Canelo] is not interested. And why should [Benavidez] wait [for] him? Of course, he needs to move forward. Guys don’t wait anybody for so long. Just create your own way”.

Also, there’s no denying that Canelo Alvarez is one of the biggest stars not just in Mexican boxing but also in the United States, so if that fight does happen, it has the potential to break sales records, which means Canelo’s $200 million demand isn’t unfounded. With that said, Villegas asked Bivol about his thoughts on moving down in weight to capture undisputed at super middleweight. And to this, Bivol explained his plans.

“To be honest, now I see my way with Saudi with the options I have in my contract, there’s no move to 168, you know. No plans, we have different plans”, said Bivol. Regardless, Benavidez seems to have already moved forward with or without Canelo.

David Benavidez claims he has done everything he could

With his win over Gvozdyk, Benavidez earned the WBC interim light heavyweight title and will have the option to become a mandatory for the full version of the belt, and for that he will have to forget about remaining Canelo’s mandatory at super middleweight. While there’s no official word on which path he has taken, an interview with ESPN may reveal his intentions.

“I did everything in my power possible to make the fight happen with Canelo… I’m not going to wait on no other fighter to establish my career and really try to become the best in any division I’m in. … I’m coming up to 175 [pounds] and I’m looking to take over”, said Benavidez. However, with the Bivol-Beterbiev pushed to later this year, Benavidez might have to find another opponent to keep himself busy in the meantime.

As more and more time passes, sadly, a fight between Canelo Alvarez and David Benavidez starts to seem more and more unlikely. Even so, Canelo will likely fight on Mexican Independence day which is on the 16th of September. It would be interesting to see who his opponent will be. Do you think the fight will ever happen?