Despite losing to Terence Crawford in September, it would seem that Canelo Alvarez still has a number of lucrative options for his next outing.
The former two-time undisputed king entered his last assignment as a sizeable favourite, only to find that Crawford, the considerably smaller man, had far too many tricks up his sleeve.
As a result, Canelo lost his super-middleweight crown, which he had reclaimed with a win over William Scull earlier this year, via a unanimous decision.
Immediately after suffering his third professional defeat, though, the 35-year-old maintained his desire to not only remain in the sport, but further enhance his already illustrious career.
And now, it seems, he could soon secure the opportunity to do just that, albeit away from his more familiar territory at 168lbs.
For years, Canelo’s name has been linked with that of David Benavidez and, even now, fans are still clamouring to see the pair lock horns.
But while it is a matchup that seems to make perfect sense, Canelo has never quite reciprocated Benavidez’s enthusiasm for the potential showdown.
The two were first mentioned in the same breath when they were both campaigning at 168lbs but, since then, Benavidez has become the WBC light-heavyweight champion.
Since moving up in weight, the 28-year-old has amassed points victories over Oleksandr Gvozdyk and David Morrell, with his next assignment, against Anthony Yarde, headlining a card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on November 22.
And yet, while remaining focused on the task at hand, Benavidez has invited Canelo to move back up to 175 and challenge him for his belt.
“I haven’t given up complete hope in that fight. I feel like, until he retires, and he’s out of the sport of boxing, there’s always going to be a possibility of that fight being made.
At the end of the day, what other fights are left for Canelo? Now, it seems like I’ve got the cards in my hands: He doesn’t have any belts at 168[lbs].
I have a belt at 175[lbs], and I’m planning on getting all the belts at 175[lbs].
[Canelo] says he’s chasing greatness. He did what he did at 168[lbs], so now, why not come up to 175[lbs] and do the same thing?”
Benavidez’s clash with Yarde takes place next weekend, on a bill that also features Brian Norman Jr defending his WBO welterweight title against Devin Haney.
