Canelo's team plans a warm-up fight in May against a lesser-known opponent. The goal? To get ready for the big showdown with Crawford later in the year. Crawford has wanted this fight for a long time and will move up two weight classes to make it happen.
After the Crawford bout, Canelo will have three more fights as part of the deal. Fans are calling for David Benavidez to be one of those opponents. Benavidez, a former two-time super-middleweight champ, recently moved up to light-heavyweight. He scored a big win over David Morrell and now holds the WBC Interim and WBA Regular belts at 175 pounds.
Benavidez took to Instagram to push for the fight:
"Imagine if Canelo would just agree and fight me already. It's not about the money, it's about what the sport needs right now and we owe it to the fans. Without a doubt it would go down as the best Mexican shootout in boxing history. Let's give the fans what they deserve!!! We 300 percent confident on this side but I can't say the same for the other side."
Canelo has fought twice at light-heavyweight before, but he's the current unified champion at super-middleweight. A fight with Benavidez could happen at either weight.
Benavidez left the 168-pound division after failing to get a fight with Canelo. He's now in a good spot for a shot at the winner of the Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol rematch happening later this month.
With four fights lined up in Riyadh, Canelo's next couple of years look set to be action-packed. The Crawford bout in September will be a huge test, and fans will be eager to see who fills the other slots in this big-money deal.