Waiting Game: Canelo still playing it

By Norm Frauenheim –

Canelo Alvarez’ news conference was a lot like a much-anticipated fight. It didn’t live up to the hype. 

More of a teaser than a newser.

That’s not exactly a surprise. Canelo’s pay-per-view numbers and celebrity status apparently allows him to behave like a diva. He’s not the first. Won’t be the last, either.

Like it or not, it’s a perk, one that comes with all the money, limos, adulation, criticism, rumors and scar tissue. He’s moved on from being a People’s Champ. It looks as if that mythical title is a better fit for the emerging Jaime Munguia. More on him later.

What we do know about today’s version of Canelo is that he keeps people waiting. He keeps media waiting for an hour or longer to appear at a post-fight news conference. Mostly, he keeps David Benavidez waiting. And waiting. More on him later, too.

Canelo’s news conference Tuesday with Azteca TV was an exercise in more of the same. He announced that he had extended his deal with Azteca. Mexicans will continue to see his fights on free TV.

But exactly who will they see him fight next? 

More over Benavidez, we’re going to have to wait on that.

Nothing much changed about that one question, which continues to revolve around his projected May 4 date, the second in his three-fight deal with Premier Boxing Champions and his first on PBC’s new streaming partner, Amazon Prime.

Reportedly, Canelo said only that his May fight would be against an American. 

That could mean Benavidez, or Terence Crawford, or Jermall Charlo, or Sylvester Stallone.

Again — reportedly, Charlo appears to be the leading possibility. Then again, Charlo quickly shot that down on social media.

“Everyone is like ‘You about to fight Canelo’… ain’t no confirmation,’’ he posted on Instagram Wednesday while reportedly on vacation in the Caribbean. “I’m in the islands somewhere.”

It’s safe to assume that neither Charlo nor anybody else will make any kind of announcement. Canelo’s many perks dictate that he makes most of the money and all of the announcements.

Charlo is a lot of things, but he’s not foolish enough to jeopardize what would be his biggest payday ever by trespassing on that turf.  

Let’s just say that the consensus, still speculative, is what it was before the newser. Charlo is the leading possibility. At one level, it makes some sense.

In late September, Canelo easily scored a one-sided decision over Charlo’s brother Jermell, a junior-middleweight champion who never exhibited any willingness to fight.

Initially, it was reported that Canelo would fight Jermall, a middleweight champ. But Jermall, still plagued by personal issues, decided he couldn’t fight.

So, Canelo turned to Jermell, his twin. Only a vowel and a weight class separate the twins. What’s to say a May 4 fight with Jermall wouldn’t produce an identical performance?

The real question is this: Why is Jermall Charlo even on Canelo’s rumored short list? He’s never fought at super-middleweight. He’s fought only once in about three years and that was against a former junior-welterweight champion Jose Benavidez Jr., David’s older brother.

Jermall blew off the catchweight, a contracted 163 pounds. He was more than three pounds too heavy. He paid a fine — $75,000 a pound, multiple sources told 15 Rounds.

But it didn’t matter, perhaps because it was part of the calculation. Jermall, who was already talking about Canelo, fought as if he knew he only had to win to stay in line for the bigger payday. He did, but only by a forgettable decision over the smaller Jose Benavidez

Maybe, it worked. But Jermall Charlo’s last performance, long idle stretch and zero experience at 168 pounds loom as additional reasons for further impatience, if not outright frustration, for everybody calling on Canelo to finally fight David Benavidez.

There’s an argument that Canelo isn’t trying to duck him. Yeah, and maybe Donald doesn’t quack. Fair? Not really. It’s a cheap shot. From fans to media, however, nothing about boxing is ever fair.

Canelo has the power to end the perception — silence the insults — that he’s trying to sidestep Benavidez

To begin with, he could end all the waiting, which only invites all the trash talk. He could announce he’ll fight Benavidez. Maybe, it still happens in September. That scenario made sense when Canelo signed a three-fight deal with PBC last year. It still makes sense.

But a lot could happen between May and September.

Canelo-against-Crawford, the undisputed welterweight champion and consensus No. 1 in the pound-for-pound debate, is impossible to ignore. It has box-office and pay-per-view appeal. But negotiations for a catchweight could be prohibitive.

Then, what?

As always, Canelo has options. Perhaps, he decides to move up the scale again in a light-heavyweight fight against the Dmitry Bivol-Artur Beterbiev winner on June 1 in Saudi Arabia.

If Bivol wins, he would get a chance to avenge his May 2021 loss. If the feared Beterbiev wins, he gets a chance to correct the record with a win that would turn the Bivol loss into an aberration – a bad night.

That’s also a scenario that would keep Benavidez, Munguia and the rest of the deep super-middleweight division in the waiting room. Only frustration in there.

It’s hard to imagine what would happen next. If Canelo vacated the 168-pound title, perhaps Benavidez would be given the vacant World Boxing Council’s version. He’s already held it twice.

For now, he’s been the WBC’s mandatory challenger since November. But no steps have been taken to enforce that designation.

A so-called e-mail title wouldn’t satisfy any fans. It probably wouldn’t satisfy the Phoenix-born Benavidez, either. He loves to fight.

A 168-pound tournament for the vacant title would be a better solution. But that, too, looks to be an impossibilty in boxing’s balkanized business. There are too many rivalries between promoters and acronyms, creating chaos instead of any regulation or organization.

But for the fun of it, let’s just say somebody is able to underwrite one.

Here are some of the names:

At the top, there’s Benavidez, unbeaten and climbing into pound-for-pound recognition.

There’s the newcomer, Munguia, impressive last month in Phoenix in a stoppage of John Ryder in front of a Mexican and Mexican-American crowd of more than 10,000 that roared as if it was witnessing the emergence of Mexico’s next great fighter.

There’s dangerous David Morrell, a re-emerging Edgar Berlanga, durable Caleb Plant, Christian Mbili and Diego Pacheco.

Notice who’s missing: Jermall Charlo.

Like he said, he’s somewhere, but not on anybody’s list, except for maybe Canelo’s.

Elijah Garcia faces tough test

Phoenix middleweight Elijah Garcia (16-0, 13 KOs), who ended 2023 as one of boxing’s hottest prospects, will test his chances at becoming a solid contender in 2024 against Kyrone Davis (18-3-1, 6 KOs).

A week after Garcia said he expected to fight on the PBC card featuring Tim Tszyu-Keith Thurman on March 30 at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena, it was announced Tuesday that he would face Davis.

It’s a fight that could steal the show, the first since the PBC deal with Amazon Prime was announced late last year.

Davis is already well-known among Phoenix fans, who grew up watching the 20-year-old Garcia.

A  late stand-in, Davis fought David Benavidez at Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix in July 2021. Benavidez won, scoring a seventh-round TKO, but Davis kept it competitive with a fearless pursuit of the bigger, more popular Phoenix fighter. In the end, the fans and Benavidez applauded Davis.  

“I’m excited to be back in the ring, especially on this first event with PBC and Prime Video,” Garcia said. “Fighting on these major events is an incredible blessing and I plan on delivering another great performance. 

“Kyrone Davis has been in the ring with some very good fighters, and it will be a challenging fight, but my plan is to get the win by any means necessary.’’

Davis promises to test Garcia’s promising credentials.

“Elijah Garcia is a very good fighter who’s young and hungry and he looks the part, but most importantly he’s been moved right,” Davis, of Philadelphia, said. “Sometimes you can look better than you really are if you’re being moved right.

“I got asked about this fight last year and of course I said yes. Then everything went silent.

“Now, I face Cruse Stewart and he goes the distance with me and Elijah stopped him, so now he fights me. I’m not going to say too much, but I’m glad they took the fight. We’ll see if Garcia is really the future.”