Oscar De La Hoya all but admitted late Saturday night that David Benavidez deserves to challenge Canelo Alvarez before any other super middleweight, Jaime Munguia included.
Alvarez-Benavidez is the 168-pound fight fans seemingly most want to see. It doesn’t appear all that close to happening, however, even though Benavidez is a two-time WBC super middleweight champ, owns the WBC’s interim title and is the mandatory challenger for one of Alvarez’s four belts.
De La Hoya, who repeatedly praised Benavidez, conceded that he senses Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KOs) will fight Jermall Charlo (33-0, 22 KOs) when the undisputed super middleweight champion returns to the ring May 4. “The Golden Boy” believes Alvarez will beat Charlo convincingly, which he hopes leads to the contender his company co-promotes, Munguia, getting his own shot at Alvarez’s IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO belts in September.
Alvarez’s former promoter acknowledged, though, that Benavidez should be at the top of the list to finally fight the Mexican icon.
“Look, the 168-pound division is stacked, it is exciting, and Benavidez deserves a world title opportunity,” De La Hoya said during a press conference following Munguia’s ninth-round technical knockout of John Ryder Saturday night at Footprint Center in Phoenix. “He’s been waiting in line for I don’t know how long. So, there’s a lotta players now at 168. Benavidez, I love. His style is incredible. He’s an amazing, amazing fighter.
“I love his attitude, I love what he represents, I love his work ethic. Yeah, he deserves a shot. And right now, Canelo Alvarez is the king. And the king has to decide. But like I said before, the media can help, the fans can help, and decide what Canelo’s next fight should be, after he fights Charlo.”
Phoenix’s Benavidez beat former champions Caleb Plant (22-2, 13 KOs) and Demetrius Andrade (32-1, 19 KOs) in his last two bouts. The 27-year-old Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs) is also aligned with Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions, with which Alvarez is in the middle of a three-fight agreement.
Speculation persists that Alvarez will only consider boxing Benavidez in the third and final fight of his PBC deal. Regardless, De La Hoya feels the WBC could’ve applied pressure on Alvarez to defend his belts against Benavidez by now.
“Look, Benavidez, who I respect a lot, incredible talent, he’s been the mandatory for Canelo for almost two years, I believe,” De La Hoya said. “So, it’s all politics, and things have to change. Because I come from an era, so does [Bernard] Hopkins, where you fight everybody. You fight the best, you fight – whoever you have to fight, you fight. You know, and so, it has to stop. It literally has to stop because when we have the best fighting the best, this is what you get, you know, Munguia-Ryder. It’s incredible.”
Tijuana’s Munguia (43-0, 34 KOs) is the WBO’s number one contender and the WBC’s second-ranked challenger for two of Alvarez’s titles. The 27-year-old Munguia became just the second opponent to stop London’s Ryder inside the distance Saturday night.
The former WBO junior middleweight champ dropped Ryder (32-7, 18 KOs) once in the second round, once in the fourth round and twice during the ninth round. Tony Sims, Ryder’s trainer, instructed referee Wes Melton to stop their 12-round fight following the fourth knockdown.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.