Former WBC super middleweight world champion David Benavidez finds himself waiting in line for Saul Canelo Alvarez’s undisputed titles along with the best of rest at 168 pounds.
He currently holds a mandatory position for the well publicised potential bout. However, Canelo made it no secret that he didn’t believe Benavidez had earned his shot at boxing’s biggest payday at this stage of his career. That has been reaffirmed by Canelo’s decision to take on fellow undisputed champion Jermell Charlo next, but a future fight is still a possibility with Canelo and Benavidez both in the PBC camp.
ProBox TV caught up with promoter and manager Sampson Lewkowicz in an exclusive interview to get an update on Benavidez’s next fight.
“At this moment we are on standby for a big opponent, I can tell you that he is in a real fight in the first week of November.” Lewkowicz said.
Benavidez (27-0, 23 KOs) was last in action defeating Caleb Plant over the distance in late March. With Canelo now finally out of the immediate picture, Lewkowicz has to look elsewhere for his most prized fighter.
“We need to be patient.” Lewkowicz continued. “I will tell you the way I see boxing. If Canelo gets beat he will retire. If he wins the fight he will give up the titles. How about that? September could be the last fight of the superstar - Saul Canelo Alvarez!”
I detected Lewkowicz hadn’t high hopes for the rest of Canelo’s career.
“No, I know the fact.” He answered. “I know he won’t fight Benavidez. He either fights Benavidez next in May or he gives up the title. He has his next fight, I’m giving the shout to Charlo for the win. He has a great shot at winning this fight, If he wins it is the end of the story for Canelo. He will have to retire. There is no rematch either. If he wins he will give up the title and not fight Benavidez just like he did with GGG, he gave up the title at first rather than fight [Gennadiy] Golovkin. Nobody can force a superstar or an egomaniac, this is what it is. I don’t say he is afraid, for them it is pure business.”
David Morrell, Gennadiy Golovkin, Jaime Munguia have all been linked with the unbeaten former two-time champion. However, his promoter also had eyes on the division above.
“We have many fights than can happen.” Lewkowicz added. “If it doesn’t happen the way he wants it to, we could go up to 175 [pounds]. Go and get one of the champions at 175. But it doesn’t have to be right now, because he continues to make the weight easily. But he can fight any of those champions up there.”
