BOXING
David Benavidez has Canelo running scared
The man who has Canelo Álvarez ducking like crazy will share the bill with Gervonta Davis as he moves up to light heavyweight to face Oleksandr Gvozdyk.
Many fighters have wanted to dethrone the super middleweight king Canelo Álvarez, but few have had such a fervent shot at making that a reality as David Benavidez. The American WBC mandatory challenger has grown tired of waiting for Canelo, even as the public, fans, and even Oscar De La Hoya accuse the Mexican of ducking the fight.
Instead, Benavidez has decided to move up to light heavyweight, facing Ukrainian Oleksandr Gvozdyk for the WBC Interim light heavyweight title, where he will share the spotlight on the card with Gervonta Davis. Just to rub it in further, the step up to light heavy was one too far for Canelo, who was completely outclassed by Dmitry Bivol when he gave it a shot.
Benavidez has held the WBC interim super middleweight title since September 2017 and has been waiting for his shot at Canelo. The undisputed super middleweight champion, however, wants no part of Benavidez, instead choosing the safer options of John Ryder and Jermell Charlo, who had to step up two weight classes to fight Canelo. The WBC named Benavidez as their mandatory challenger several months ago.
With more moves than a blowfly, Canelo is ducking and diving in all directions, seemingly willing to face anyone who is not Benavidez. Benavidez even asked the Turki Al-Shaikh to make the fight in Riyadh, but the Saudis seem more interested in making a Terence Crawford bout.
In his last fight with Jaime Munguía, Canelo had a brief exchange with Benavidez, who was watching from ringside, but it was just bluster and bluff. Benavidez shot back that if Canelo really wanted to confront him, it would cost him $200 million.
Benavidez has now put Canelo in the rear view mirror, saying that he is done with the division and will not just stand by idly waiting. On Saturday, he will step up to light heavyweight to face former champion Gvozdyk for the WBC interim crown. The Ukrainian has only lost once against Artur Beterbiev. Benavidez says that the only fight that he will come down to super middleweight for is the one that sees him challenge for Álvarez’s four belts.