If one have been to ask undisputed tremendous middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez about adhering to the general public demand that he struggle unbeaten former two-time champion David Benavidez, they need to settle for a salty and dismissive comment.
However ought to they need to truly see the struggle, which might be one of many greatest the game may make to shut 2024, the Mexican icon has now raised his worth significantly.
Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KOs) spoke with media members after Tuesday’s kickoff press convention in Los Angeles for his Might 4 return in opposition to countryman Jaime Munguia (43-0, 34 KOs) and denied studies from Benavidez’s promoter, Sampson Lewkowicz, that their group had supplied Alvarez a handbag of $55 million to simply accept the struggle.
“No, nothing is true. I do not know the place you bought that. By no means, by no means, by no means,” Alvarez stated. “Not that I do know, and I do know every part. He supplied that quantity, he say? That quantity, I could make with anyone. That has nothing.
“[Benavidez] brings nothing to the desk for me. He brings simply 25 kilos extra on that evening. That is it. It isn’t him as a result of he has nothing to supply me, something. I am the one. But when one promoter who I work with comes and affords me $150 million to $200 million, I am going to struggle tomorrow. That is the one cause I might struggle with him as a result of the one factor he brings to the desk is 25 kilos.”
The 25 kilos was a reference to the quantity of weight that Benavidez, a 27-year-old native of Phoenix, rehydrated to at some point after making the 168-pound restrict for his November TKO win over undefeated, former two-division champion Demetrius Andrade.
Benavidez, who was nicknamed “The Monster” by Corridor of Famer Mike Tyson, has turn into the boogie man of the division following consecutive blowout wins on PPV in 2023 over Caleb Plant and Andrade. However regardless of his finest efforts in calling out Alvarez, the title struggle continues to elude him.
Though Benavidez has twice been stripped of his WBC title (for lacking weight and failing a drug take a look at), he is thought of by most consultants to be the proper mixture of dimension, velocity, energy and aggressiveness to present Alvarez hassle.
The issue for Alvarez, 33, is that the extra he waits Benavidez out, the older he will get whereas Benavidez continues to get higher. However the situation represents the primary time Alvarez has undergone this degree of utmost criticism for his matchmaking since he compelled former middleweight champion Gennadiy Golovkin to attend two years till he was 35 till he agreed to their first of three fights in 2017.
“I need not struggle anyone,” Alvarez stated. “I need not show to anyone something as a result of I keep in mind when this occurred with Golovkin. I need not show something to anyone. This struggle with Jaime Munguia, you might want to respect this as a result of this struggle is extra necessary than these different fights. It’s what it’s. And I keep in mind once you guys are at all times asking me for Golovkin after which I struggle Golovkin. After which, it is Billy Joe Saunders. After which, it is Caleb Plant. After which …
“So, by no means is sufficient for you guys. I need not show something to anybody, anymore. I’ve performed every part in my profession.”
The response from Alvarez is a transparent departure from the persona he flashed in gaining virtually common reward in 2021 when he accomplished a stretch of 4 wins in 11 months, together with three in opposition to unbeaten champions, en path to turning into the primary four-belt undisputed king at tremendous middleweight and the game’s pound-for-pound finest.
Alvarez then doubled down upon his ambitions following his knockout of Plant by shifting again as much as 175 kilos the place he unsuccessfully challenged unbeaten titleholder Dmitry Bivol in 2022 earlier than flirting with a transfer as much as cruiserweight that by no means got here to fruition.
Given Alvarez’s repeated willingness to tackle the hardest challenges obtainable, together with combating Floyd Mayweather in 2013 when he was simply 23, it was anticipated that combating Benavidez inside his personal division wouldn’t be a problem.
Alvarez shocked the boxing group in current months by dissolving his three-fight take care of Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions after only one struggle. But, after procuring affords on the open market, Alvarez selected to return to Haymon to safe the Munguia bout in a one-fight take care of PBC, which additionally represents Benavidez.
“I am joyful to work with everyone. I am joyful to work with Al Haymon and he is joyful to work with me,” Alvarez stated. “If one thing occurred, or if there’s something extra necessary for me to do, I’ll do it. And I’ll be good with Haymon, with everyone. I prefer to work with everyone they usually know I’m very disciplined and a tough employee. That is why I can do every part.”
Earlier this month, Tyson criticized Alvarez’s determination to keep away from Benavidez by overtly pondering whether or not he was afraid to simply accept the struggle. Alvarez closed Tuesday’s media scrum by responding to a query asking for a response.
“I might respect [Tyson’s] opinion if he was sober,” Alvarez stated.