Via Dan Ambrose: Tim Bradley says David Benavidez is a threat to Canelo Alvarez now at 25 and that he is the man the Mexican needs to fight next instead of waiting for him to get better.
Bradley thought it would be a bad idea for 31-year-old Canelo to wait until later to face Benavidez. If Canelo waits to fight Benavidez, he increases his chances of being defeated.
Although Floyd Mayweather Jr is still fighting at a high level at the age of 36, having defeated then 23-year-old Canelo in 2013, the Mexican star is unlikely to do the same against Benavidez.
Is Canelo avoiding Benavidez?
If Canelo waits until he’s 35 or 36 then eventually nervous work against Benavidez, it could end badly for him.
On the other hand, if Canelo chooses to avoid Benavidez forever, it’s clear to boxing fans that he’s going to lose popularity.
It was clear to the fans that Canelo is actively avoiding Benavidez, but if he chooses to do so permanently, it will make him look pathetic.
With all the time that Canelo is investing in winning championships in hopes of building his legacy, he has hurt it by not fighting Benavidez and other top boxers like Demetrius. Andrade, David Morrell Jr, Jermall Charlo.
Also, Canelo has unfinished business with Gennady Golovkin due to their two controversial fights, which fans assume GGG should have won.
Canelo would have given Golovkin a third fight to settle the controversy, but he wasn’t, and that made him look like he was beating the Kazakhs.
Canelo (57-1-2, 39 KOs) appeared to have dodged former two-time WBC super-middleweight champion Benavidez (25-0, 22 KOs), maneuvering around him to take on lesser fighters to become the undisputed champion at 168 in 2021.
Benavidez lost his WBC belt in August 2020 when he was overweight for defending his belt first. Roamer Alexis Angulo, a boxer that he stopped in the tenth round.
Acting quickly, Canelo advanced over the next four months to claim the vacant 168-lb WBC belt with a decisive 12-round one-way win over Callum Smith in December 2020.
Benavidez was amused when Canelo, who had never shown any interest in facing him during his time as the WBC champion, moved at lightning speed for the title shortly after he lost the title to Angulo in August. 2020.
Bradley wants Canelo to fight Benavidez
“Canelo Alvarez said in November that he wanted to move up to cruiser class to take on Ilunga Makabu, who could fight,” Max Kellerman said. Max on boxing. “Have you ever seen Makabu fight?
“He can move, he can box, he can punch. However, Jermall Charlo is the most likely opponent. Let me ask you this. Want to see what Canelo does? ”
“I want to see Canelo face David Benavidez. That’s the guy that people want to see him face to face,” Timothy Bradley said when asked who he’d like to see Alvarez fight next.
Bradley isn’t the only one who wants Canelo to take on Benavidez. Almost, the whole boxing world pressed Canelo to fight Benavidez. However, he chose the weaker route by fighting British and older boxers against their top guys like Danny Jacobs and Sergey Kovalev.
Canelo even fights his former teammate Avni Yildirim rather than facing Benavidez in 2021, making him look terrible.
Benavidez threatens Canelo
“He was a big man in the division, and he was a champion until he lost the belt on the scale,” Bradley said of two-time WBC super-middleweight champion Benavidez. He lost his title in August 2020 when he was overweight for defending his title against Roamer Alexis Angulo.
“He is someone who can pose a threat to Canelo Alvarez. He is [Benavidez] he’s young, he’s brazen, 25 years old, and he’s the type of guy that I think brings out the best from Canelo.
“If you look at Canelo with the last guys he faced, yes, they were world champions, but if you look at his level of favourites. Seven, eight to one favorite will join a championship war.
“Is not, We want to see Canelo match the difficulty against someone who is going to push him because we want to see how great this boy really is and I believe David Benavidez is the right man for Canelo Alvarez,” said Tim Bradley.
Benavidez poses a HUGE threat to Canelo, and he has for years. If Canelo has played against Benavidez since 2015, he has lost.
But now that Benavidez is grown and 25 years old, the fight is going to go badly for Canelo.
Kellerman wants Canelo to fight Beterbiev
“I like the idea of Benavidez,” Kellerman said of who Canelo should fight next. “Obviously, it was a great action fight, and I get what you mean. He had reasonable fights like if you listed the top five opponents, they could have been fifth.
“But Jermall Charlo will be a little higher on the list than fifth. Yeah, I want to see Canelo fight that guy. I think Benavidez falls into that category. He has more dimensions than Charlo. What’s up with [Artur] Betterbiev?
“If you want to put him in with a great. [Dmitry] Bivol might be the toughest fight, but probably not the best style to suit fans. But Beterbiev against Canelo? Betterbiev wants you to stay right there so he can come and pick you up.
“Canelo wants you to come to him so he can counterattack. Perfect. What’s up with Betterbiev?“Kellerman said.
IBF/WBC light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev (17-0, 17 KOs) would be a great pick for Canelo’s next bout. However, unfortunately, it seems that the Mexican star does not want to join the Russian Olympic athlete twice.
When Canelo got the chance to play against Beterbiev in 2019, as he moved up to 175th in pursuit of a fourth-place world title, he picked 36-year-old Sergey Kovalev who had faded.
At that point in Kovalev’s career he was by far the weakest of the champions with 175 points and a guy who was destined to lose his WBO title to anyone with Pretty halfway skill.
Indeed, Kovalev was nearly knocked out in a match against Canelo against Anthony Yarde, an English boxer with mediocre talent.
Benavidez will only get better
“It’s more than that,” Bradley said. “I understand the challenge and what he brings, but there is an English barrier. There is a barrier to selling. Canelo wants to participate in big events. It’s all like that.
“I believe David Benavidez delivers that. He is a rude talker; He’s young, 25 years old. Do you remember when [Floyd] Mayweather and Canelo get together?
“I believe Canelo was 23 years old when they went head to head, and Mayweather has captured the best of him. This is the same situation that I believe Canelo Alvarez can pose for himself against David Benavidez.
“As a young man, all he has over time is that he will get better. So you can also get him right now in an entertainment war,” Bradley said.
It’s clear that the longer Canelo waits before fighting Benavidez, the worse things will get for him when they finally meet.
The only chance Canelo has to beat Benavidez is if he takes on him now, and even then, it’s unlikely he’ll win in a controversial decision.
If Canelo waits another two to four years before taking on Benavidez, his work rate will be too low and he will be too old to have any chance of winning.
Canelo vs. Benavidez sold out of Dallas stadium
Bradley predicts Canelo vs Benavidez will sell out the 80,000-seat Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
“I believe it will really sell out. It’s not just about style; It’s about selling. That’s the content of it,” Bradley said during the fight between Canelo and Benavidez.
“You really appreciate Benavidez’s ability because Canelo after Mayweather became the best boxer in the world, according to many people in the world,” Kellerman said.
“With that kind of upside down, wow! I think Betterbiev is the more difficult challenge [for Canelo], but I’ve heard from others, they don’t think so. They also like Benavidez,” Kellerman said.
Bradley is right about the battle between Canelo and Benavidez selling out the 80,000-seat Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. A battle between those two would generate a huge amount of interest in Texas or anywhere in the United States, for that matter.
Obviously, given Canelo’s two controversial matches against Golovkin and his questionable win over Erislandy Lara, it would be best if he did NOT host the match against Benavidez in Las Vegas.
Canelo’s record of dodging losses due to unusual scoring conducted by referees in Las Vegas makes that city a bad location for a fight with Benavidez.
In Texas, Canelo is a clean guy who hasn’t been involved in any controversial decisions, so that would be the ideal location for a fight with Benavidez.
The last thing fans should see is Canelo railway Benavidez, forcing the fight to take place in Las Vegas by giving him an offer to pause.
If Canelo forces the fight with Benavidez to take place in Las Vegas, it will put more pressure on him to kick the umpires out of the game by going all out for KO.
That doesn’t bode well for Canelo as he doesn’t look physically capable to match Benavidez’s high work rate at this point in his career.
Also, Canelo won’t beat him with a single boost like he did in his last three battles with Caleb Plant, Billy Joe Saunders, and Avni Yildirim.
