{"id":132659,"date":"2025-09-12T17:10:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T17:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/132659\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T17:10:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T17:10:15","slug":"canelo-alvarez-claims-he-never-rejected-david-benavidez-fight-well-see-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/132659\/","title":{"rendered":"Canelo Alvarez Claims He Never Rejected David Benavidez Fight, ‘We’ll See Later’"},"content":{"rendered":"

LAS VEGAS \u2013 Even with a fascinating, 50-50 fight fast approaching, Canelo Alvarez<\/a> couldn\u2019t avoid David Benavidez<\/a>\u2019s name Thursday night.
The undisputed super middleweight champion was asked again about finally fighting Benavidez during a press conference at T-Mobile Arena to promote his heavily promoted showdown with Terence Crawford<\/a> on Saturday night. <\/p>\n

Frustrated fans have heavily criticized the most bankable boxing star in the United States for refusing to fight Benavidez in recent years.<\/p>\n

Alvarez disputed having turned down a fight with Benavidez. The Mexican legend didn\u2019t dismiss battling Benavidez at some point in future, but quickly shifted the conversation back to facing Crawford in a 12-round main event Netflix will stream globally.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, I never say no to anything,\u201d Alvarez said. \u201cWe\u2019ll see later. But I\u2019m focused a hundred percent on this fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

The shrinking odds on Alvarez-Crawford are nearly down to even (-165+135), despite Crawford moving up two weight classes.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Guadalajara\u2019s Alvarez (63-2-2, 39 KOs), ranked No. 8 on The Ring\u2019s pound-for-pound list, will defend his Ring, IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO 168-pound crowns against the third-ranked Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs). Crawford, of Omaha, Nebraska, can become a champion in a fifth division and an undisputed champ in a third weight class by beating Alvarez.<\/p>\n

Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) moved up to light heavyweight last year once it became completely clear that Alvarez wouldn\u2019t fight him. The Phoenix native will defend his WBC 175-pound title<\/a> against England\u2019s Anthony Yarde<\/a> (27-3, 24 KOs) in the main event of \u201cThe Ring IV\u201d card November 22 at ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

Alvarez has fought twice at light heavyweight, but Benavidez isn\u2019t counting on the four-division champ changing his mind about their fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I never get that fight, I\u2019ll be fine with it,\u201d Benavidez told The Ring<\/a> recently. \u201cI\u2019m fine with it. Cuz I\u2019m staying in my lane. I\u2019m trying to fight, trying to beat the other best in the world [Dmitry Bivol<\/a> and Artur Beterbiev<\/a>]. But if that fight does happen, you know, Imma be ready for it. And it\u2019s looking like it could happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have the [WBC] belt at 175. Canelo says he only fights for greatness, for titles, that\u2019s what excites him. So, now I got a title. You know what I mean? I’mma just keep winning these fights and I\u2019m not thinking about Canelo. But if it does happen, we\u2019re gonna be ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keith Idec is a senior writer and columnist for The Ring. He can be reached on X @idecboxing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS \u2013 Even with a fascinating, 50-50 fight fast approaching, Canelo Alvarez couldn\u2019t avoid David Benavidez\u2019s name…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,6842,6836,6841,6840,6834,6102,6837,6838,6839,6835,6588,6847,6846,6830,6828,6829,6844,6831,6827,6848,6843,101,6845,6826,6833,56,54,55,6832],"class_list":["post-132659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-community","tag-boxing-fights","tag-boxing-history","tag-boxing-interviews","tag-boxing-magazine","tag-boxing-news","tag-boxing-photos","tag-boxing-rankings","tag-boxing-schedule","tag-boxing-videos","tag-boxing-results","tag-disqualification","tag-draw","tag-fight","tag-fighter","tag-fighter-news","tag-knockout","tag-latest-boxing-matches","tag-ring","tag-ring-magazine","tag-split-decision","tag-sports","tag-technical-knockout","tag-the-ring","tag-top-fighters","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-upcoming-boxing-matches"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}