By Norm Frauenheim –
Finally, David Benavidez is poised to take his first real step away from Canelo Alvarez in a move to re-define himself on his own terms with a light-heavyweight debut against Oleksandr Gvozdyk.
There’s yet to be a formal announcement, but Benavidez said Wednesday on a Fresh and Fit podcast that he expects to face Gvozdyk on June 22 instead of June 15, possibly in Houston at the Toyota Center.
The bout, he said, is expected to be on a PBC/Amazon Prime card featuring Gervonta Davis’ in his first fight in more than a year against Frank Martin.
Benavidez, a Phoenix-born fighter currently training in Miami, hasn’t exactly given up on the Canelo possibility.
But Canelo’s decision to fight Jaime Munguia on May 4 in Las Vegas and subsequent comments about a Benavidez fight, possibly in September, have left him without many options.
“We’re still trying to look for that Canelo fight,’’ said Benavidez, who at 27 will move up and out of the super-middleweight division in June.
But, he also said, “I don’t think that Canelo fight is gonna happen, so I’ve got to move on.’’
Canelo sent him that message a couple of weeks ago when he said he would only fight Benavidez for a prohibitive purse – “$150 million to $200 million.’’
That sounds as if it was just another way for Canelo to say it’s just not going to happen.
Initially, however, Canelo’s price tag fueled speculation that the Saudis would be interested. But apparently Canelo’s demands were even too rich for them.
Instead, Saudi Prince Turki Alalshikh, chairman of the oil-rich country’s General Entertainment Authority, said he’d be interested in the Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol winner for the undisputed 175-pound title against Benavidez, if Benavidez beats Gvozdyk. Beterbiev-Bivol is set for June 1 in Riyadh.
Benavidez, who first indicated he was ready to move beyond Canelo last year, is still frustrated with Mexico’s pay-per-view star.
In deciding to fight Munguia in May, Canelo called Munguia “respectful’’ – a shot at Benavidez, who is not.
Over the last couple of years, Canelo has been angered by trash talk from Benavidez and his father/trainer Jose Benavidez Sr.
“Canelo,” Benavidez said, “is with this bull—-, ‘He needs to be respectful.’
“I’m not going to bow my knee to nobody, because I’ve earned my shot for the belts.’’
Benavidez is the World Boxing Council’s mandatory challenger to Canelo, the undisputed 168-pound champion. But the WBC has done nothing to enforce that so-called mandatory.
Instead, the WBC took the unusual step of announcing plans for Benavidez-Gvozdyk, a light-heavyweight eliminator for a fight with the Beterbiev-Bivol winner.
Usually, fights are planned and announced by the promoter, in this case PBC (Premier Boxing Champions).
It was as if the WBC was offering Benavidez an alternative in an attempt to sidestep any controversy that would surround a threat to strip Canelo of the belt if he did not agree to face the unbeaten fighter from Phoenix.
“I try not to say too much,” Benavidez said, “because if I say he’s scared, people say I’m a hater. ‘What have you proved?’
“I’m the No. 1 contender. I don’t need to prove s—. I have beat the people they have told me to beat so I can fight for the title.
“I’ve done that over and over again. I’ve been his mandatory challenger for three years. That has never happened. Canelo is the money man right now.’’
Money equals power, and Canelo has plenty of both.
He’s already on record as saying he makes his own decisions.
“I will do what I want to do,’’ he told LA Times-Espanol in a video interview Thursday — a comment that will force Benavidez to do what he has to.
