Canelo Alvarez says a fight with David Benavidez is now “impossible” because the former WBC interim super middleweight champion has moved up to light heavyweight.
In an interview, Canelo defended himself against years of criticism from fans who believed he avoided Benavidez during their time at 168 pounds.
“When we were both at 168, I fought every champion in that division. Why didn’t he ever fight those champions? If he was a champion at that point, I’d fight him.
My goal was to be undisputed. Right now it’s just impossible. He can come and fight heavyweights,” Canelo said @InsideRingShow.
The explanation immediately drew criticism from fans, many of whom pointed out that Benavidez had only moved up one division to 175 after years of chasing the fight at super middleweight.
Others noted that Canelo himself had already moved up to light heavyweight in the past for fights against Dmitri Bivol and Sergey Kovalev. Terence Crawford also jumped two divisions from 154 to 168 for his recent fight with Canelo, making the size argument difficult for some fans to accept.
Benavidez held interim status with the WBC for years while repeatedly asking for a fight with Canelo at 168. Instead, Canelo went in different directions, fighting opponents like Edgar Berlanga, Jaime Munguia, John Ryder and William Scull.
Now that Benavidez has captured titles at 175, Canelo argues that the fight no longer makes sense because of the weight difference. For many fans, the timing of that explanation is only going to reignite the debate about why the fight never happened when both fighters were still in the same division.
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Last updated on 2026/05/25 at 22:06
