David Benavidez won't drop weight for a fight with Canelo Alvarez. The WBC Light Heavyweight Champion has made it clear he's done with the 168-pound division.
Benavidez moved up to 175 pounds last August after getting frustrated waiting for a shot at Canelo's super-middleweight titles. He was the mandatory challenger but never got the call.
Since then, Benavidez has thrived at light heavyweight. He beat Oleksandr Gvozdyk for the interim WBC crown and followed that up with a win over David Morrell. When Dmitry Bivol gave up the belt, Benavidez got bumped up to full champion status.
Now, Benavidez says he's staying put. He recently stated:
"To be honest with you I don't think a fight with me and Canelo would ever happen at 168, I don't wanna go back to 168. I'm good at 175, and I'm world champion here, so if he wants to come up to fight at 175 I'm all good with that but right now I can't live in this fantasy world."
Canelo doesn't seem interested in moving up again. He's only talked about a light-heavyweight rematch with Bivol.
Both fighters have big matches coming up. Benavidez will defend his WBC world title against Anthony Yarde on November 22 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Canelo's got an even bigger fight on his hands. He'll put his undisputed super-middleweight championship on the line against Terence Crawford on Saturday, September 13 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
The 28-year-old Benavidez has made his position clear. If Canelo wants the fight, he'll have to come up to 175. But with the 34-year-old Mexican star focused on cleaning out the super-middleweight division, fans might have to keep waiting for this dream matchup.
