Benavidez spent years trying to get a shot at Canelo, who's been the king of the super-middleweight division. Alvarez became the undisputed champion at 168 pounds, beating big names like Gennady Golovkin, Caleb Plant, Callum Smith, Billy Joe Saunders, Jaime Munguia, and Edgar Berlanga.
At one point, it looked like the fight might happen. But Benavidez says Canelo's priorities have changed. In an interview, he shared his thoughts on why the fight fell through:
"This fight isn't happening because he doesn't want to fight me. There is no other way around it. He doesn't want to fight me because he's scared of me. Look at him, Canelo is in the spot where he's at because he's fought the best and now he's making the biggest bags. He's all about making money now he doesn't care about challenge, but the reason I'm saying he's scared is because they offered him $70 million to fight me, that's before pay-per-view. Imagine how much he would make off pay-per-view."
Canelo's reign as undisputed champion ended recently when he was stripped of his IBF 168-pound title. Meanwhile, Benavidez has moved on to new challenges. He's now the WBC interim light-heavyweight champion and is set to face WBA regular champion David Morrell in January.
The boxing world will keep a close eye on both fighters' next moves. Canelo continues to be a major draw in the sport, while Benavidez aims to prove himself at light-heavyweight. Whether their paths will cross in the future remains to be seen.