While admitting their once hoped-for fight is officially dead in the water, David Benavidez has nonetheless considered whether Canelo Alvarez is an all-time Mexican great.
Benavidez scored a third-round finish over David Lemieux and claimed the WBC ‘interim’ super-middleweight title in 2022, effectively establishing himself as the leading contender to face Canelo.
It was not for another 16 months, however, that the Mexican-American was finally confirmed as the WBC’s mandatory challenger following his unanimous decision victory over Caleb Plant.
Benavidez would then make another interim title defence, stopping Demetrius Andrade in six rounds, before realising that the chances of facing Canelo were incredibly slim.
As a result, he became a WBC champion at 175lbs and is now campaigning at cruiserweight, having dethroned Gilberto Ramirez with a vicious sixth-round stoppage in May.
In doing so, the 29-year-old became a three-division world champion but, even now, he is often asked whether a Canelo fight will ever materialise.
Speaking with Last Stand Podcast, Benavidez admitted there is no chance of him ever facing the 36-year-old while, at the same time, acknowledging the Mexican’s revered status in the sport.
“At the end of the day, he’s a great fighter – he’s a legend – and I would like to be a legend like him and follow in his footsteps. I would like to be a great Mexican legend like him one day.”
Indeed, most would agree that Canelo is one of Mexico’s greatest fighters in history, along with the likes of Julio Cesar Chavez and Salvador Sanchez.
He is, after all, a four-division world champion who became the undisputed super-middleweight king before losing his titles to Terence Crawford last September.
