With there being a groundswell from boxing fans and pundits to see a Canelo Alvarez vs. David Benavidez fight at some point in 2024, the Mexican legend continues to be steadfast in his stance on a bout following his win last week.
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez is one of the best fighters in the world and is ranked at No. 4 in our latest pound-for-pound rankings. However, there have been many around the sport who feel he has been carefully curating his fight schedule in recent years and just looking for optimal paydays in favorable matchups.
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The rumblings have only gotten louder as fellow super middleweight David Benavidez has risen to prominence in the division and become the clear-cut top contender to Alvarez. Yet, the 33-year-old has ignored him and instead faced Jaime Munguia earlier this month in his first fight in 2024.
In the leadup to the clash, Benavidez claimed Alvarez turned down $60 million to face him during negotiations earlier this year. Now, the P4P star is asking for three times as much to make a bout happen.
“The only thing I see is that Benavidez is 25 pounds or 30 pounds heavier than me on the day of the fight. I have no problem with that, but if he wants me to fight him, it’s $200 million,” Alvarez allegedly said during an appearance at the Hole in One golf event this week (via Boxing News 24).
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At this point, it seems like the bout is very unlikely to happen. But it is a bit surprising that Canelo Alvarez is complaining about a weight differential when super middleweight is the division he chose to fight in and has become its unified champ. Plus, the size difference with Munguia was blatantly obvious on fight night.
He has also suggested he would like a rematch with light heavyweight star Dmitry Bivol before his career comes to a close. Benavidez returns to the ring next month on an Amazon Prime Video mega-card.
