Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez’s wild ducking of David Benavidez continues.
For years, they were both competing in the super middleweight division, with ‘El Monstro’ clearly developing a resume worthy of a big bout, but yet Canelo overlooked him, instead happy to take on the likes of Jaime Munguia, Edgar Berlanga, and William Scull.
The fighter’s trainer-manager, Eddy Reynoso, is the latest to excuse Canelo’s avoidance of arguably the best fight out there for him, claiming that, with Benavidez challenging Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez for the unified cruiserweight championship on May 2, it means there’s too much weight difference between them now to bother.
There are glaring issues with this logic.
For one, Benavidez only left super middleweight in the first place to seek out the toughest challenges he could. That journey has led him to 200 pounds for one fight, before returning to 175 — a division Canelo had no problem moving to for Sergey Kovalev or Dmitry Bivol.
“That fight against Benavidez is [finished],” Reynoso told Ring Magazine.
“Benavidez is now fighting at cruiserweight,” he said. “There is a better chance for Benavidez to fight Oleksandr Usyk than there is to fight Canelo.”
And that last line is the clear difference between Canelo and Benavidez in 2026.
As Benavidez epitomizes a modern warrior, Canelo seeks out third our fourth-best challenges.
When Will Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis Next Fight?
When problems mount in combat sports there is one tried and tested formula for burying bad news — make a fight.
It’s something that has worked for Conor McGregor, and it will work for Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, too, who has legal and civil issues outside the ring but is linked with a return to boxing in July or August, against an unbeaten 23-year-old American fighter called Floyd ‘Kid Austin’ Schofield.
It’s a fight Kid Austin talked about himself on X.
“We may be fighting Tank in July/August,” he said.
It would represent a third occasion this year on which Premier Boxing Champions and Golden Boy Promotions collaborate for a big ticket event.
And finally, pound-for-pound sensation, Shakur Stevenson, clarified rumors regarding a fight between himself and Devin Haney, simply calling the speculation “cap.”
