From the moment David Benavidez had his hand raised in victory against Caleb Plant, before he even made it to the post-fight presser, he already knew who he wanted to fight next. The obvious choice, of course, was Canelo Alvarez. The 33-year-old holds every major world title at 168 pounds and has the sort of legacy that Benavidez would love to claim for himself.
Technically, the pound-for-pound star has and always will be his preferred choice. But, for whatever reason, the two simply haven’t shared the ring with one another. Instead of continuing to chase his man mindlessly, Benavidez turned his attention towards Jaime Munguia.
Shortly after making his intentions known, both sides took part in conclaves. At first, talks were promising. So much so that Benavidez was convinced that they would attempt to knock each other’s heads off before the year came to a close.
The sport of boxing, not including as of late, has a way of snatching away an explosive fight from underneath our noses. So while it appeared as though all systems on their showdown were a go, things fell apart in the 11th hour.
“We were trying to get a fight with Munguia,” Benavidez said to a group of reporters recently. “We were already ready to finalize a fight with Munguia and then last minute, he and his team backed out.”
For the most part, Benavidez (27-0, 23 KOs) kept his thoughts to himself when asked to elaborate on what exactly went wrong.
Munguia, 26, has grown sick and tired of onlookers lambasting him for his tenuous resume. He did receive a bit of credit for his last outing, but his close decision victory over Sergiy Derevyanchenko left some feeling that he was given a gift.
For the current WBC interim titlist, all he wants to do is lace up his gloves and face the best of the best. He’s ostensibly still getting that chance as a showdown between himself and Demetrius Andrade is in the works.
For now, the former two-division champion is receiving all of his attention. But for a moment, Benavidez is revisiting his failed attempts to lock in a Munguia bout. Negotiations were never going to be easy. With Benavidez siding with Premier Boxing Champions and Munguia (42-0, 33 KOs) fighting on DAZN with Golden Boy Promotions, the political obstacles that stood in their way were always going to present their issues.
Benavidez though, let the cat slightly out of the bag. Networks, according to Benavidez, placed their differences aside and held hands. The only thing that stopped their showdown from going forward was team Munguia.
Ultimately, Benavidez isn’t losing any sleep over what took place. Simply put, just because they aren’t getting it on in the immediate future, that doesn’t mean it won’t happen a bit later.
“It would’ve been a cross-promotional fight. We would’ve fought on Showtime. It was very close to happening. It can happen. I just think they aren’t ready at this time. It might be an option for the future.”