By Joiner Martinez
27 Jul 2024, 23:40 PM EDT
Mexican fighter Canelo Álvarez announced his next opponent for his fight on September 14, the Brooklyn native, but with Puerto Rican blood, Edgar Berlanga.
Of course, the voice that everyone was waiting to speak out is that of the American of Mexican origin David Benavidez, who has finally made clear his perspective on this new fight with the rival who has resisted him in recent years, regardless of his “mandatory” status by the World Boxing Council.
Benavidez himself has been strongly criticizing Canelo for several months now for avoiding arranging a fight against him, even after the Guadalajara native’s victory against Munguía, the Mexican-American continued to insist on being able to face Álvarez.
However, in the end Canelo decided to make a deal with Berlanga, while Benavidez will have his fight against the winner between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol, staying at 175 lbs to be the WBC mandatory challenger as the interim champion.
Benavidez, nicknamed the ‘Mexican Monster’, was blunt when responding to the microphones of the podcast ‘Tha Boxing Voice’ about the upcoming clash between Canelo and Berlanga: “It’s a trash fight. Nobody wants to see that. But at the end of the day, Canelo is not facing the strongest opposition. It is what it is. I’ve been his mandatory rival for the last three years, but I can’t force him to fight me. It shouldn’t even get to a position where you have to activate your mandate. What is the interim title for? Basically, that’s activating your mandate. There are a lot of weird things going on there. At the end of the day, I have to move on with my career,” he said.
Earlier this week, Mauricio Sulaimán, president of the WBC, told several media outlets that the organization had received a letter signed by Sampson Lewkowicz, Benavidez’s promoter, in which he made it known that his fighter will continue in the light heavyweight division, where he is already waiting for the winner of the fight between the Russians Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
Canelo, for his part, has other problems to worry about, as he also has a mandatory opponent in the International Boxing Federation, Cuban William Scull. The Jalisco native has to put his 168-pound title on the line and try to retain it, but if not, it would be vacant for a possible fight between Scull and Russian Vladimir Shiskin.
Keep reading:
Canelo Alvarez officially announced his fight with Edgar Berlanga on September 14
David Benavídez will face the winner of the fight between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol
Canelo Alvarez is stripped of his championship belt by the IBF