Canelo Alvarez hasn’t given David Benavidez the green light just yet. The 26-year-old currently has his ringer on high with the hopes of the pound-for-pound star giving him a crack at his undisputed super middleweight throne.
Yet, despite picking up two gigantic wins this year against Caleb Plant and Demetrius Andrade, Alvarez has appeared lukewarm on the idea. If Alvarez opts to go in another direction, Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs) could decide to take his show on the road.
Making 168-pounds has always been arduous for Benavidez. Although he’s made weight easier as of late, he loathes the idea of protracting his stay. In the near future, Benavidez knows good and well that a move to the light heavyweight division is inevitable. Once he takes the leap, don’t expect to see him taking on countless contenders. Instead, Benavidez has pontificated his desire to face the division’s top dogs.
Currently, both Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev reign over the division. Benavidez, unsurprisingly, wants to get his hands on both fighters. Beterbiev, due to the Russian being in possession of the WBC, IBF, and WBO 175-pound titles, is someone that Benavidez has mentioned on numerous occasions.
At the age of 38, Beterbiev (19-0, 19 KOs) believes he’s made it this far by having unwavering dedication and discipline. Meaning, he takes things one fight at a time. Next up for the unified champ is a date with Callum Smith on January 13th.
Beterbiev hasn’t spent a single second of training camp even thinking about the possibility of facing Benavidez one day. However, when asked to give his thoughts on the current WBC interim titlist calling him out, Beterbiev made it clear that he isn’t avoiding Benavidez and would welcome a showdown with him.
“If he wants this fight, no problem,” Beterbiev told Sean Zittel of FightHype.com. “No problem.”