David Benavidez questions Canelo Alvarez’s credibility: “He should only fight celebrities”

David Benavidez is pushing hard to fight Canelo Alvarez and after the Mexican Monster’s spectacular knockout over Demetrius Andrade last Saturday, David Benavidez earned the opportunity to a title fight as WBC mandatory challenger for the light heavyweight world title, held by Canelo.

David Benavidez is doing all that he can to provoke a fight with Canelo

However, from Canelo’s side, there is no sign that the fight has begun to be negotiated, so the Arizona-born challenger is already upset and is raising the bar to force the fight for 2024, preferably by next May.

That’s why this Friday, Benavidez lashed out at Canelo, reviving criticism that the fighter doesn’t give a chance to fighters who pose a real threat and that this is happening to Benavidez himself as if the rules don’t matter to him.

I know people say, ‘He’s done enough’ and ‘He doesn’t need to fight,’ so why does he have all the belts? He should just be in celebrity boxing matches, why does he keep holding the belts hostage and not giving the number one contenders the opportunities they deserve?

David Benavidez

He also recalled that in a similar situation, Canelo immediately fought Turkish Avni Yildirim, a mandatory challenger mandated by the WBC. However, Benavidez assured that Canelo conceded the fight knowing that he had advantages over the Turk:

“When the WBC ordered him to fight Yildirim he rushed into it. You owe it to the people, let’s give the people what they want to see. Hopefully, that mandatory fight against Canelo will be made. He and I need each other,” said Benavidez.

“Canelo needs me as much as I need him.”

However Benavidez admits that the fight may not happen and if it does, he will continue in his intention to defeat the best available in the 168 free division, so he could challenge Jermall Charlo and, if this also does not happen then he would think about changing division to challenge another champion like Dmitry Bivol, considered among the best pound for pound and who is WBA champion at 175 pounds.

“I can knock him out and if he doesn’t want me to go to 175 to face Dmitry Bivol. I’ve been boxing for 10 years, so it’s time to look and challenge the champions there,” he concluded.