{"id":494285,"date":"2026-03-25T10:19:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T10:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/494285\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T10:19:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T10:19:11","slug":"david-benavidez-closes-door-on-canelo-alvarez-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/494285\/","title":{"rendered":"David Benavidez Closes Door On Canelo Alvarez Fight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=boxing247.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"660\" height=\"208\" alt=\"Add East Side Boxing as a preferred source on Google\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770669047_552_google.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqKAgKIiJDQklTRXdnTWFnOEtEV0p2ZUdsdVp6STBOeTVqYjIwb0FBUAE?ceid=US:en&amp;oc=3&amp;hl=en-US&amp;gl=US\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><br \/>\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"468\" height=\"128\" alt=\"Follow East Side Boxing on Google News\" style=\"height:100%; width:auto; display:block;\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/follow-google-news.png\"\/><br \/>\n  <\/a> <\/p>\n<p> The statement came during a ProBoxTV appearance, where he was discussing his move up to cruiserweight to face Gilberto \u201cZurdo\u201d Ramirez.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wish he would say that because he\u2019d be saying he\u2019s scared without saying he\u2019s scared,\u201d Benavidez said to Boxingscene when asked about a possible offer from Alvarez at super middleweight.<\/p>\n<p>The timing is the point. Benavidez spent four years as a top WBC contender at 168, waiting for a fight that never materialised. Canelo moved through other opponents during that period, and the matchup stalled without ever being finalised. That stretch left Benavidez in a position where waiting no longer made sense.<\/p>\n<p>The move to cruiserweight is not being treated as a short detour. Benavidez, now the WBC light-heavyweight titlist, is stepping up to 200 pounds to face Gilberto rather than coming back to familiar ground. He viewed the decision as a refusal to take a lesser fight after years of chasing the biggest one available.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t want to backtrack and take a regular fight,\u201d Benavidez said.<\/p>\n<p>That stance changes the dynamic around any future Canelo discussion. The fight has long been seen as something Benavidez wanted, and Canelo could choose to grant. By ruling it out in advance, Benavidez removes that leverage and turns the situation into a missed opportunity rather than an ongoing negotiation.<\/p>\n<p>There is also a practical side to it. The fighters who define the next phase of Benavidez\u2019s career are no longer at 168. His focus has shifted toward bigger opponents and different weight classes, with Ramirez first and other names at light-heavyweight and cruiserweight in play after that.<\/p>\n<p>Canelo (63-3-2, 39 KOs) is expected to return later this year following surgery, with a fight against Christian Mbilli planned for September. Whether that creates renewed talk of a Benavidez bout no longer has the same appeal from Benavidez\u2019s side.<\/p>\n<p>He spent years asking for the fight. At this stage, he\u2019s moving on without it. And if the call finally comes, he\u2019s already decided the answer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The statement came during a ProBoxTV appearance, where he was discussing his move up to cruiserweight to face&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":460861,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-494285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494285","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=494285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/460861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}