By Sean Jones: Teddy Atlas says Canelo Alvarez nonetheless should beat David Benavidez to assert the #1 spot within the 168-lb division.
For Canelo to take the highest spot, he’s going to have to indicate some braveness and face the boogeyman within the division in unbeaten former two-time WBC champion Benavidez (24-0, 21 KOs).
Boxing followers are beginning to discover that Canelo has been avoiding Benavidez, and it’s reducing their opinion of him.
Canelo’s current victory over IBF tremendous middleweight champion Caleb ‘Sweethands’ Plant final Saturday evening made him the undisputed champion within the division, however that also didn’t make him the #1 man within the weight class.
All that did was put Canelo on high of these paper champions – Plant, Billy Joe Saunders, Callum Smith, and Rocky Fielding.
Atlas: Canelo should beat Benavidez to grow to be #1 at 168
“For me, at 168, the stiffest check can be Benavidez if he [Canelo] actually needs to [claim the #1 spot],” mentioned Teddy Atlas on his Podcast.
“To me, that may be the stiffest check as a result of Benavidez is probably the most harmful and bodily difficult of all of them.
“So, if he [Canelo] beat him, then he actually catches 168 for me. These guys [the champions Canelo has been beating at super middleweight] is perhaps slightly technically higher; I’ll give it to you.
“They is perhaps, however Benavidez is larger, stronger, and he’s extra harmful,” mentioned Atlas
I wouldn’t maintain my breath ready for Canelo to take the battle with Benavidez if I had been Atlas as a result of I don’t assume it is going to occur on this lifetime.
Possibly in a parallel universe, there’s one other model of Canelo prepared to step as much as the plate and face Benavidez, however not on this one. Canelo has already proven his stripes by steering away from Benavidez for the final eight years, and that’s not prone to change.
Canelo Alvarez didn’t clear out the 168-lb division, and he’s bought to cope with the #1 man, David Benavidez, to assert the highest spot within the division.
The unbeaten youthful, larger and stronger Benavidez (24-0, 21 KOs) stays because the final hurdle for the 31-year-old Canelo to get previous earlier than he can declare the highest spot within the true sense.
Benavidez the highest canine till dethroned
Canelo should beat Benavidez, and till he does that, he can’t name himself the #1 fighter within the 168-lb division. He’d nonetheless be #2, behind the stronger, larger, and far youthful Benavidez.
The 6’2″ Benavidez remains to be one of the best at 168, and he’s unbeaten and seemingly being averted by Canelo, which is a transparent signal that he doesn’t assume he can beat him. If you keep away from the #1 man, as we’re seeing with Canelo swerving Benavidez, meaning you don’t consider you may win.
Canelo captured his WBC title in a WEAK approach by dealing with Avni Yildirim for the belt fairly than taking up Benavidez in 2020 when he held the strap.
It wasn’t till Benavidez misplaced his WBC title by coming in obese for his protection in opposition to Roamer Alexis Angulo final yr in August, all of the sudden Canelo confirmed curiosity in preventing for that belt.
Surprisingly, the World Boxing Council let Canelo battle Yildirim for the WBC 168-lb belt fairly than insisting he faces the #1 ranked Benavidez.
What’s troubling about that transfer is that Yildirim hadn’t fought in two years and was coming off a loss to Anthony Dirrell on the time.
Why did the WBC enable Canelo to battle Yildirim for the vacant title, given the Turkish fighter’s inactivity and defeat to Dirrell? Yildirim had been Canelo’s sparring accomplice previously.
The logical factor for the WBC would have been to order Canelo to battle Benavidez for the vacant 168-lb strap, nevertheless it’s apparent what would have occurred had they finished that. Canelo possible wouldn’t have agreed to battle for the WBC’s title.
