{"id":543107,"date":"2026-04-21T16:14:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T16:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/543107\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T16:14:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T16:14:07","slug":"canelo-called-out-to-give-the-fans-the-fight-they-deserve-before-retirement-hes-scared","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/543107\/","title":{"rendered":"Canelo called out to ‘give the fans the fight they deserve’ before retirement: “He’s scared”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite all of his accolades, Saul \u2018Canelo\u2019 Alvarez has been accused of running \u201cscared\u201d and denying boxing fans the fight they \u201cdeserve\u201d.<\/p>\n

Having become a four-weight world champion, the 35-year-old has already cemented his legacy as a future Hall of Famer and one of the greatest Mexican fighters in history.<\/p>\n

Even at this late stage in his career, though, there remains a desire to compete at the highest level and seek further challenges.<\/p>\n

This much was evident during his showdown with Terence Crawford last September, when Canelo lost a unanimous decision but nonetheless showed glimpses of world-class flair.<\/p>\n

He now appears determined to reclaim a portion of his undisputed super-middleweight crown on September 12, when he is set to enter a world title fight in Saudi Arabia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Among the names being mentioned for such an occasion is Christian Mbilli<\/a>, who was elevated from \u2018interim\u2019 to full WBC super-middleweight champion following Crawford\u2019s retirement.<\/p>\n

But while Mbilli represents a solid opponent, many will find it difficult to forget Canelo\u2019s lack of enthusiasm for a clash with David Benavidez.<\/p>\n

While the current WBC light-heavyweight champion was still campaigning at 168lbs, he repeatedly called for a shot at the Mexican but was never presented with such an opportunity.<\/p>\n

For that reason, Benavidez struggles to see their fight ever materialising, telling Come And Talk 2 Me<\/a> that he believes Canelo has actively avoided him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s scared \u2013 he has no balls. That\u2019s what it is. I give Canelo all the respect \u2013 he\u2019s done everything he\u2019s done \u2013 but, at the end of the day, I was the No.1 contender in two weight classes for a long, long time.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has shown that he doesn\u2019t want to fight me. It\u2019s really a shame because this is a fight everybody wants to see. This is a fight that the fans deserve.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe in myself and my skills 100%, so I feel like, if he says he\u2019s the baddest man on the planet\u2026 why not give the fans what they want to see?\u201d<\/p>\n

Given that Benavidez\u2019s next outing will see him challenge unified cruiserweight champion Gilberto Ramirez on May 2, it is becoming increasingly less likely that he will ever collide with Canelo, though a promise to return to light-heavyweight, given Canelo has competed in that division twice before, leaves fans some hope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite all of his accolades, Saul \u2018Canelo\u2019 Alvarez has been accused of running \u201cscared\u201d and denying boxing fans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543108,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-543107","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543107","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=543107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543107\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}