WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman believes that David Benavidez is willing to wait before taking the opportunity to fight Saul Canelo Alvarez.
Benavidez, who moved up in weight to fight Ukraine’s Oksander Gvozdyk for the light heavyweight title in June, missed out – at least for once – on boxing star Canelo’s lucky break. .
Canelo has won all the gold at 168 pounds, and there is a long line to face him in the super middleweight division.
Benavidez is getting impatient, has now gained weight, and is looking for opportunities elsewhere, Canelo has shown no signs that he is willing to give Benavidez a chance, other than say he will fight for more than $150 million.
“Yes, it’s a good fight that a lot of people want to see,” Suleiman admitted of Canelo-Benavidez. “[David] Benavidez will move up to light heavyweight in June, and then he’ll have to decide which weight class he’ll compete in – go back to 168 pounds or stay at 175 pounds.”¤
With not many able to bring these two fighters to the negotiation table, is Suleiman willing to take the chance to make the fight happen?
“Yes, of course,” he said. ——The problem is that the world has changed.
David Benavidez’s Wait for a Canelo Alvarez Fight Could Keep Dragging https://t.co/ju6JBaMmu8
— BoxingScene.com (@boxingscene) April 22, 2024
– Everything happens quickly, quickly everything happens in great speed; sometimes the whole cycle is not complete. A great war must be fought at the right time, at the right place and with the right tactics for the fans. So I know Benavidez is happy, Canelo fights Jaime Manguia on May 4th and Benavidez fights in June, so we’ll see.
However, now that the fight is hot, there are two different times to be a great fight: when the fight provides the most entertainment, and when the fight can make a lot of money. The two are not the same. From the financial side, Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao may have arrived at the right time, but as a sporting event, it would have been better if the fight had taken place five years earlier, in 2015.
Suleiman admits the timing is right for Alvarez-Benavidez, but knows progress can be made, meaning the fight may not happen for some time. – At the moment, for the two champions, yes, at this level, we expect money from them. … When they were young and trying to be heroes, there was unity. Now… Canelo, Benavidez, they are looking for the best solution for the best money.
Canelo is scheduled to face Munguia at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on May 4, with Benavidez on the other side. Suleiman also believes that Munguia could be a stumbling block for his Mexican friends.
“Yes, it can be difficult,” Suleiman said of the May 4 fight. – Munguia is the real challenge. This is a great fight where he can stop Canelo Benavidez.
Tris Dixon covered her first boxing match in 1996. Trust funds and fraternity circles. He is a former boxing announcer for TNT Sports and hosts the popular Boxing Life Stories podcast. Dixon is a member of the British Boxing Hall of Fame, a voter of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, a member of the Inside the Ring list and the author of five boxing books, including Injury: The Untold Story of Traumatic Brain Injury in Boxing “Toa: A Champion’s Search for His Identity” and the desert “Road to Nowhere: A Boxing Journey”.
