Floyd Mayweather has taken a jibe at undisputed super-middleweight champion Canelo Álvarez after the Mexican icon recently stated he wouldn’t fight other Mexican fighters, despite WBC interim 168 pound champion David Benevidez being linked as his next opponent.
Speaking to FightHype.com over the phone, ‘Money’ Mayweather said:
“Canelo made his career off beating Mexican fighters, despite saying he doesn’t want to take the Benevidez fight and he doesn’t want to fight Mexican fighters, so that’s a way to back out the block.”
He then made the point:
“So if Canelo’s saying that and everybody’s standing behind Canelo, then why don’t all the black fighters go out there and say ‘You know what? We’re not fighting each other.’”
Mayweather’s has a point in as much as 20 of Canelo’s first 25 fights were against Mexicans. Canelo’s last bout against a fellow Mexican was in 2017 when he fought Julio Cesar Cahvez Jr, winning via a shutout points decision.
It’s unclear what four-weight world champion Canelo’s next move will be. He’s been insistent that he wants the Dmitry Bivol rematch ever since he lost the first fight in Las Vegas in May, but Bivol has recently said it’s not a guarantee that fight happens next, providing he beats Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez in Abu Dhabi next month.
Former super-middleweight champion Benevidez was probably the favourite to face Canelo for all his belts next. The self-proclaimed ‘face of boxing’ does have time on his side however, with his next fight likely to be on the famous Cinco de Mayo weekend next year.