Canelo Alvarez really avoiding a massive showdown with David Benavidez?
It is actually the Alvarez's irregular acts of late that are so strange and mind-blowing to most people in the boxing industry.
Alvarez will fight Jaime Munguia in May, after picking out another opponent not from the same division who is other than the top two super middleweight since forever: David Benavidez, WBC interim champion and two-time former world champion.
Alvarez has proposed that he prefers fighting with Munguia rather in overseeing Benavidez but would demand over one hundred and fifty million to agree a duel with the latter.
With due consideration given, the CBS Sports boxing expert arranged for a dialogue on whether or not Alvarez is guilty of pulling back or what most would call “ducking.”
Brent Brookhouse: If you think of it this way, we both respect and have great admiration for Canelo and how often he's taken on the plight of reaching greatness. Nevertheless, I ask you this: Brian, does Canelo deserve it, or can we argue that now he's dodging Benavidez?
Brian Campbell: Usually, we try to do so, and this is something we do, awarding fighters who put rank consistently over any leverage they have acquired through their superstar or celebrity status, making the hardest fights. In particular instance, he has several years of clean image bolstered by decades-long career as a celebrated star, free of major embarrassments or failures members of the press could get hold of. It is entirely acceptable that followers or reporters call the actions of either into question when they are freshly off a lazy sofa. However, it is a violating thing to have boxing punches thrown at you from a glass cage of hate and destruction. Notwithstanding this, the second step is even worse, when a combat pilot starts to question things as the doubts start to come from his teammates. And as Mike Tyson, an outstanding Hall of Famer, raised the question if this tournament is making Alvarez afraid of Benavides, we are reminded that critics must be fair and well-informed.
But his falling out with the WBC( World boxing council) included him twice being stripped of his championship, which made the Mexican boxer spite Alvarez for not letting him fight him on his road to being undisputed in the year 2021. Now it is three years later. Moreover, two fighters are vying for their spot on the same television network and, until now, were battling in the same division. Hey, it's not my fault- Alvarez just keeps fighting a number of lesser opponents, thus maintaining his monopoly of the division. One of the top fighters in the sport is having his clear right denied to come and present his talents, but instead is just being held off. Oh yeah, and one more thing: not only the fight is the biggest that now we can grab in the whole sport, but it is also the hardest one when it comes to the sport it is a part of. I may ask myself other question as well, like, how come we think that the animal is a duck?
Brookhouse: Having in mind that Alvarez is a fair promoter, I would like to mention that if you proceed back to the time when they two (Alvarez and PBC) decided to pick a different way, few promoters mentioned the fight against Benavidez as a next step. Rick Warren or Dan Rafael of The Ring claimed that Jermall Charlo and Munguia were considered for a May bout with Al Haymon, a PBC’s member, convincing him to go in with Charlo fight only if Alvarez was ready to face Benavidez later in the year. Ducking is just what Alvarez did for more than a year after that deal came to him and Benavidez looked like one more bird that was never intended to fly, but there is a problem with this – Benavidez and Alcantra were never on the table as a whole for May. Now if you think about this, it may be right to state that September is the time for Alvarez's fate where he would either have fight with Benavidez or might suffer the tattooing of a blemish on his virtually flawless record.
In a career free of injury, Alvarez is predicted to be in the boxing ring in September. Respectfully, in what does Benavidez fight become legitimate other than September appointment? The students will not label it as an option to go. This is another interesting match, as fans would chance upon it. What's more, Alvarez made a comment when the official weight-in was conducted, as he believed Benavidez was gaining much weight in the last few hours before the fight. It would be hypocritical if Alvarez fought with someone who never fought above 147 pounds.
Campbell: Stop a minute, you actually just became aware of what the problem is: the fat. However, I realize that indeed, the boxing business is such that Alvarez is not contractually obliged to face Benavidez if some of the clauses of his recent three fight PBC deal claim that he wasn’t bound to meet the latter as stipulated. Nevertheless, it’s Alvarez’s own words that seem to make matters worse and give the impression that this fight is a make-believe Just stop it if you want to say that Crawford fight is not possible due to (the) lack of recognition that Alvarez is not going to get by defeating someone, who is smaller than him by (the) three weight classes. However, Benavidez is literally competing with his own compatriot Alvarez. Benavidez may have rehydrated to approximately 25 pounds for the beating of ‘unbeatable Amstow’ in November last year, and how would Alvarez sustain that Benavidez is too big of an opponent for him is beyond me.
Alvarez can't fulfill his self-appointed office mandate of 'promoting economic revitalization for all,' and have an intent action opposite its end by offering tax cuts that can only deepen the recession. No fighter in the world can reign the undisputed at a certain division and then choose only certain fighters to fight against at his or her pleasure. And so it is yours to take the responsibility of notice, but you cannot, under any circumstances, whine about your being the underdog, when you have already established your stardom as that of the greatest character. Alvarez can point out that the uproar among fans about his encounter with Gennadiy Golovkin is similar to what he heard before his fight Gennadiy Golovkin for the first time when people claimed it is a match he will avoid. This, however, is not simple because if Alvarez still comes up this again, we also need to be reminded he let GGG wait for two years until he was 35 for their fight and he had the failed drug test before their rematch.
If you don't want to make the interim champion and No a problem for your titles' defense, you should: Be the candidate who drops all the professed. There is a plain talk of that. If this is not about honor but rather your desire not to be treated like a cudgel, then you leave me wanting. Does Alvarez still have a luxury of time, truthfully speaking? Or do you reckon that his plan is going to woo more blood or only more favors by winding up the fight that has the potential to blow up into even more than just it already is?
Brookhouse: We should not forget about the fact that Alvarez showed up to fight Bivol at the light heavyweight level. The reason the rematch had to be postponed was that Alvarez wouldn't conform to Bivol's request to move one weight class to fight for the undisputed seat, with the reason being that Alvarez wanted to return to the light heavyweight level to get another crack at the "Before his move up to super middleweight, Alvarez did not bring weight close to catch before his fights." An important aspect of modern boxing which tends to happen more often is that guys will be cutting weight prior to stepping on the scale, but they will return to their regular water intake right after, rehydrating rapidly. Then what about Alvarez's most recently just completed fight with a man (Jermell Charlo) against an opponent coming up two divisions for the first time after an 18-month gap?
I would prefer to think that Alvarez is now trying to create hype around a fight with Benavidez but he was "uncontested" last time he was re-elected on November 2021. Although he still held the status of an elite super middleweight boxer a year before fighting Canelo, Benavidez was fortunate to capture the WBC interim title of May 2022, which took on "mandatory" the name of "challenger" in the forthcoming fight. That's all we can do to foment the crisis. In point of fact, Alvarez was blunt and to the Benavidez Boy what he said was pretty much the same like he left Andrade outside his impact area.
Kid Alvarez should be relieved of his belts he has collected so far if he isn't interested in fighting the best in the division. Clearly, dealing with the same consequences as Benavez, he dropped the WBC title two times and first for testing positive to cocaine and on missing weight one time, but he is the best possible opponent, otherwise, if Alvarez wasn’t willing to give him a shot, there should be a room to fight for a world title by him. Though this is true, when you are as big as a name even like Alvarez, then is it really a game of chicken to put the sport's stakeholders at risk. Benavidez did not seem to be in such a bad state now. This definitely looked unlikely.