“Canelo was never interested,” David Benavidez said when asked by DAZN why a fight with Canelo Alvarez never happened.
The reaction on social media was critical. Many fans said that Benavidez should sell the Ramirez fight rather than revisit an old complaint. Strategically, he needs the Canelo association to keep his PPV numbers from tanking, especially since Zurdo doesn’t bring a massive casual fan base. But at the same time you can hear the genuine bitterness. He is the fisherman who had the world record catch on the line for three years and never made it.
It is already abandoned. It’s tiring to listen to to see David Benavidez still griping about a missed opportunity three weight classes ago.
Benavidez spent years as the mandatory boogeyman at 168, and Canelo basically treated him like he didn’t exist. That kind of professional freeze-out leaves a mark. Now that Canelo has been knocked from his side by Terence Crawford, Benavidez probably feels even more bitter that he never got the chance to be the one to do it.
While Benavidez is stuck in the past, the picture has completely changed. With Canelo coming off that unanimous decision loss to Crawford last September, the Canelo era is likely over. If Benavidez wants to be the new face of Mexican boxing, he’s doing himself a disservice by playing the scorned ex.
If Benavidez goes out there and absolutely destroys a unified cruiserweight champion on May 2nd, the Canelo talk could finally die because he’ll have a brand new, heavier crown to talk about. But if he struggles or wins a boring decision while still complaining about Saul, he risks becoming the guy whose entire career was defined by a fight he never actually had.
