Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez will continue his mission of trying to become boxing's first undisputed super middleweight champion May 8, when he faces Billy Joe Saunders at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Tex. If he successfully snatches Saunders' WBO title, Alvarez will try to book a fight with IBF champion Caleb Plant to secure his latest chapter of boxing history.
But plenty of fans and critics alike believe that the four-division world champion's greatest challenge at 168 pounds isn't the aforementioned titleholders. It's former two-time super middleweight champion David Benavidez.
During a media conference call Wednesday, Alvarez said he'd be open to the idea of fighting Benavidez or even longtime rival Gennadiy Golovkin only after his undisputed crown is claimed.
“Yes, sure, why not?" Alvarez told reporters about possibly facing either Benavidez or GGG after becoming the undisputed super middleweight ruler. "It could be once my goal is achieved."
While there's plenty of familiarity with Golovkin, the same can't be said for Benavidez. At 24-years-old, the undefeated Benavidez (24-0, 21 KOs) has a five-and-a-half inch height advantage and nearly seven-inch reach advantage over the 30-year-old Alvarez. That, and Benavidez has already carved out a reputation for being one of boxing's best switch-htting punchers with more power than Saunders or Plant.
During an interview with DAZN News in March, Benavidez spoke about the possibility of Alvarez becoming undisputed king of 168 pounds, only to leave the division afterwards, leaving his challenge unmet.
“Honestly, I think people lose a lot of respect for him if he does that,” Benavidez told DAZN News at the time, regarding the possibility of Canelo becoming undisputed champion and not clashing with him. “I’m the only person — outside of those two (Saunders and Plant) — that people want to see fight him. I feel like people want to see him fight me more than they want to see him fight Billy Joe Saunders and Caleb Plant.”
Well, Canelo's comments Wednesday shows that the interest to fight Benavidez is mutual. That being said, Alvarez made sure to mention, during the same conference call, how him taking on perceived staunch challenges haven't always gone the way fans have expected, often leaving him in a damned if you do, damned if you don't position. The unified super middleweight champion evoked his unanimous decision drubbing of a taller Callum Smith in December to jab his point home.
“The thing that happens is people are always asking why not fight Callum Smith instead and then when the fight comes, they are wondering ‘Oh, but it was not as good as we expected,’” Alvarez said, “but that’s because they were facing me."
Whether he could reduce Benavidez from a mouthwatering matchup on paper to a mere mortal in the ring remains to be seen.
But there isn't going to be a fight in Alvarez's future that doesn't build toward more boxing history, while further sharpening the lens of his sweet science legend.
“What I really want is the best possible matches," Alvarez said, "to continue making history in my career.”
If Canelo fulfills his quest to become the undisputed super middleweight champion of the world, we'll see if Benavidez can present just that with an epic challenge to his throne.