Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s request for $150 million to $200 million to fight David Benavidez has triggered a rich response from the younger unbeaten former champion.
At his Tuesday news conference, Alvarez said that Benavidez brings nothing to the table except 25 extra pounds (of rehydration), and that he’ll only fight Benavidez for $150 million to $200 million.
That’s quite a difference from the reported $35 million that Alvarez will be paid for his next bout, an undisputed super-middleweight title defense against Mexican countryman Jaime Munguia at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena on May 4.
Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs) took to Instagram and responded, “If I have nothing to offer, then why are you demanding you get 150-200 million to fight someone who isn’t worth anything?
“Hopefully, after you make that $150 million, you have enough left over to buy a pair of nuts.”
Unlike Munguia, Phoenix’s Benavidez has avoided giving significant respect to the four-division champion and former pound-for-pound king who remains boxing’s most powerful draw.
Some, including Munguia’s Mexican promoter Fernando Beltran, believe that that adversarial tone contributed to Benavidez being bypassed for the bout even though the former champion’s stoppage of then-unbeaten former middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade late last year seemed to be reason enough to deserve the date.
Oscar De La Hoya, Munguia’s U.S. promoter, posted on X Thursday that Alvarez is leaving the wrong impression by asking for such a hefty sum to fight Benavidez.
“Outpricing yourself means, ‘I’m afraid to lose,’” De La Hoya wrote on X.
In boxing history, the richest take-home purse is believed to be the $300 million-plus that Floyd Mayweather Jr. earned in 2015 for fighting, and defeating, Manny Pacquiao, who cleared more than $150 million.
While Alvarez-Benavidez would be immense, it’s not on the level of a bout that stewed for five years following Pacquiao closing out an impressive run of victories over De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto in late 2009.
While Alvarez’s May 4 promoter, PBC, is starting a new deal with streaming giant Amazon Prime Video this month, another player in perhaps funding such an event is Saudi Arabia.
Led by figurehead His Excellency Turki Alalshikh, the Saudis are readying for a thunderous doubleheader of undisputed title fights in Riyadh – the May 18 heavyweight bout between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury and the June 1 light-heavyweight bout between Russians Artur Beterbiev and Dmitrii Bivol.
The Saudi money was on full display in October, when they bankrolled not only the Fury bout versus former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, but spent heavily to invite a slew of boxing and sporting dignitaries for a multiple-nights stay on location.
Whether Alvarez’s demands have been recognized overseas are not clear.
What’s obvious is that Benavidez heard them.