During a conversation with Ray Flores, former super middleweight titleholder David Benavidez talks about why he doesn’t think he’ll ever get a shot at Canelo Alvarez, believing that Canelo will end up vacating his WBC belt when it comes time to defend against him. Check out some of what Benavidez had to say below.
Benavidez on his plans to earn a WBC mandatory title shot against Canelo:
“To be honest, I don’t feel like Canelo — if I win the mandatory like I am — I feel like Canelo is not gonna give me the opportunity anyways. I feel like he’s probably just gonna vacate the title or do something like that. I would love to fight Canelo, I would love to show the world that I am the best, but honestly I don’t think he’s gonna take the fight.
“We were never in talks before when I had the WBC title, we were never in talks to make the fight happen…he reached out to every other champion besides me. And I feel like when he beats Billy Joe Saunders and then he goes and beats Caleb Plant, I feel like he’s gonna say his work at super middleweight division is done.
“So, I mean, it doesn’t matter to me if it’s Canelo, if it’s Caleb Plant, if it’s Charlo, you know, Ronald Ellis, whoever. My job is to beat whoever and I am gonna beat whoever they put in front of me.”
On if he thinks Canelo is ducking him:
“I don’t know, man. I mean he never mentions my name, he talks about everybody else except for me. Some people want to say that I’m desperate for the fight — I’m not desperate for no money, I’m desperate to show the world that I am the best. I willing to fight whoever. I’ll fight Berlanga, I’ll fight Charlo, I’ll fight Caleb Plant, and I’ll fight Canelo. I just want to show the world that I am the best. I just want an opportunity to show the world I’m the best.”
On if he believes he has the style and measurements to give Canelo his toughest fight:
“Definitely. You know, there’s a lot of similarities between me and Canelo. Body shots, uppercuts. You know, the thing about me is I have a wicked variety of punches too. I can put my punches together as good as he can, and I have an amazing jab…I feel like I give him the best fight out of anybody. And I think his team knows that too. So I feel like that’s the reason why they’re kind of avoiding me. But at the end of the day if he does vacate his belt, he’s just gonna show everybody how afraid he is.”