Like Terence Crawford, David Benavidez, the youngest super-middleweight champion in history, only had one wish—to face Canelo Alvarez. Although Crawford’s fight with Alvarez seems likely this year, Benavidez’s fight against his Mexican rival still appears less probable than ever. But why?

The Monster Bandera Roja was the WBC super middleweight mandatory for Canelo for over a year, but the sanctioning body never forced the latter to the fight. When it looked like it was going to happen in March 2024, the Guadalajara native’s absurd demand of $150 million to face Benavidez prevented it from happening. Fans have been wondering why the 62-2-2 has been rejecting or avoiding the Phoenix, Arizona native’s challenge. In a recent conversation, Canelo Alvarez explained his contention with the young champion…

Canelo Alvarez won’t tolerate disrespect

Speaking to Mike Coppinger on The Ring Podcast on January 21, Canelo Alvarez stated that the reason he rejected the fight was because of the disrespect he felt from David Benavidez. For those who may not recall, after the $150 million demand from Canelo, the 28-year-old, along with his father Jose Sr., went on a tirade against the Mexican superstar which didn’t sit right with Canelo.

For the unversed: Last year Jose Benavidez Sr (who is also a retired professional boxer) had said about Alvarez after the latter refused to fight his son, “The most dangerous fighter, the most exciting fighter doesn’t want to face David Benavidez. He knows, and you know, I know — everyone knows, Canelo’s career is coming to an end. He’s not the Canelo who used to break arms and knock people out. He knows David can beat him and doesn’t want to lose to him.” Come 2025, and it looks like we finally know the reason the Mexican star isn’t considering Benavidez…

During the podcast interview, Coppinger asked, “Canelo…Look it’s something you said to me a while ago…really resonated [with me]. You said, ‘If somebody’s going to disrespect me, I don’t want to punish them in the ring and beat them up and say, ‘Hey, here’s all this money’.’ Because everyone always makes their career-high payday facing you. How much of the way David Benavidez has approached you with this respect…you saw…was a reason that you didn’t want to fight him?”

Canelo claimed that even though he is committed to fighting the best, the way the father-son duo called him out disrespectfully, he had no reason to give them the fight they were seeking. Ultimately, a fight against him will earn his opponents a significant paycheck and he refused to oblige to that. “At this point, I fight with everybody with every champion. With all the best out there and when somebody approach you like that and call you out like that, you don’t need to give them money. So, like I say, I can do whatever I want now and just I don’t like the way he approaches for taking the fight,” Canelo explained.

The host then asked, “Do you think Terence Crawford is approaching you in the proper way?” To this, the 34-year-old responded, “He’s wanted the fight and doing respectful, you know. ‘I want Canelo’, nothing bad saying, bad things about me,” contended Canelo. Interestingly, things have been quite the opposite lately.

On August 7 last year, during an appearance on The PorterWay Podcast, Crawford had called out his future opponent for belitting him as an easy rival. “I heard him say I’m easy work. If I was easy work you’d take all that money that he [Alalshikh] is offering you, but still he wants $200 million for Benavidez and he wants $150 million to fight me. So that just lets me know right there I’m a threat. I’m a threat to him and his legacy because it would be crazy for a guy that started at 135 [pounds] and came all the way upto 168 [pounds], your weight, no catchweight and dethrone you,” the 37-year-old had said.

Top Comment by Rn Mosley

He is right to turn the fight down if he’s not being shown respect

Share your take

Debate

And then again, on January 21 this year, Alvarez had said, “Look, I respect Terence Crawford. He’s very talented, but he only won one big fight. If you look at his record he has only beaten one good fighter (Errol Spence). Other than that, he hasn’t beaten other great fighters like Spence,” to which Crawford had again responded, “So out of all the fighters I’ve faced, only one has been good? I take note of that. Just remember what he said, because I’ve always had the pleasure of making a fighter who is someone end up looking like a nobody.” 

Even after the disrespect, the Alvarez has not entirely ruled out the possibility of facing Benavidez in the future. “But like I say, you never know too. Maybe someday I wake up and I say I want to this that guy,” the unified super middleweight champion admitted.

Considering that the Guadalajara native is 34 years old now and already has two opponents decided this year, a fight against Benavidez seems like a distant possibility. However, it does not look like the 28-year-old will change his way to provoke Canelo.

David Benavidez’s frustrated sigh

As Benavidez himself is getting ready to face David Morrell, he appeared in an interview with ‘The Miami Hustle’ on YouTube. During the conversation, he could not hold back his frustration over the Canelo Alvarez debacle and called the latter a “f****ng p**sy.”

As the interviewer asked him about potentially facing the unified super middleweight champion and what it means for Mexican boxing heritage, the Interim WBC Light Heavyweight champion replied, “To be honest with you, I just feel like Canelo is a f**king p**sy. That’s just my opinion,” stating how he has lost all hopes for the clash.

Considering Canelo Alvarez’s latest interaction on the Ring Magazine podcast, these words won’t be beneficial for Benavidez. Even in the past, the likes of Leonard Ellerbe and Sena Agbeko have advised the Mexican Monster to turn it down a notch. However, it does not seem like happening, further diminishing the chance of this Mexican heritage fight.

What do you think about Canelo Alvarez’s statement? Do you think he should accept David Benavidez’s challenge? Let us know your thoughts down below.