{"id":419034,"date":"2025-09-12T17:54:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T17:54:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/419034\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T17:54:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T17:54:15","slug":"canelo-alvarez-claims-he-never-rejected-david-benavidez-fight-well-see-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/419034\/","title":{"rendered":"Canelo Alvarez Claims He Never Rejected David Benavidez Fight, &#8216;We&#8217;ll See Later&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>LAS VEGAS \u2013 Even with a fascinating, 50-50 fight fast approaching, <a class=\"underline hover:text-redColor\" href=\"https:\/\/ringmagazine.com\/en\/fighters\/saul-alvarez-77\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Canelo Alvarez<\/a> couldn\u2019t avoid <a class=\"underline hover:text-redColor\" href=\"https:\/\/ringmagazine.com\/en\/fighters\/david-benavidez-609\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">David Benavidez<\/a>\u2019s name Thursday night.<br \/>The undisputed super middleweight champion was asked again about finally fighting Benavidez during a press conference at T-Mobile Arena to promote his heavily promoted showdown with <a class=\"underline hover:text-redColor\" href=\"https:\/\/ringmagazine.com\/en\/fighters\/terence-crawford-98\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Terence Crawford<\/a> on Saturday night. <\/p>\n<p>Frustrated fans have heavily criticized the most bankable boxing star in the United States for refusing to fight Benavidez in recent years.<\/p>\n<p>Alvarez disputed having turned down a fight with Benavidez. The Mexican legend didn\u2019t dismiss battling Benavidez at some point in future, but quickly shifted the conversation back to facing Crawford in a 12-round main event Netflix will stream globally.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLook, I never say no to anything,\u201d Alvarez said. \u201cWe\u2019ll see later. But I\u2019m focused a hundred percent on this fight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The shrinking odds on Alvarez-Crawford are nearly down to even (-165+135), despite Crawford moving up two weight classes.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>Guadalajara\u2019s Alvarez (63-2-2, 39 KOs), ranked No. 8 on The Ring\u2019s pound-for-pound list, will defend his Ring, IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO 168-pound crowns against the third-ranked Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs). Crawford, of Omaha, Nebraska, can become a champion in a fifth division and an undisputed champ in a third weight class by beating Alvarez.<\/p>\n<p>Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) moved up to light heavyweight last year once it became completely clear that Alvarez wouldn\u2019t fight him. The Phoenix native <a class=\"underline hover:text-redColor\" href=\"https:\/\/ringmagazine.com\/en\/news\/david-benavidez-set-to-make-first-wbc-light-heavyweight-world-title-defence-vs-anthony-yarde-in-november\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">will defend his WBC 175-pound title<\/a> against England\u2019s <a class=\"underline hover:text-redColor\" href=\"https:\/\/ringmagazine.com\/en\/fighters\/anthony-yarde-2150925\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Anthony Yarde<\/a> (27-3, 24 KOs) in the main event of \u201cThe Ring IV\u201d card November 22 at ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n<p>Alvarez has fought twice at light heavyweight, but Benavidez isn\u2019t counting on the four-division champ changing his mind about their fight.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf I never get that fight, I\u2019ll be fine with it,\u201d Benavidez told <a class=\"underline hover:text-redColor\" href=\"https:\/\/ringmagazine.com\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Ring<\/a> recently. \u201cI\u2019m fine with it. Cuz I\u2019m staying in my lane. I\u2019m trying to fight, trying to beat the other best in the world [<a class=\"underline hover:text-redColor\" href=\"https:\/\/ringmagazine.com\/en\/fighters\/dmitry-bivol-392\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dmitry Bivol<\/a> and <a class=\"underline hover:text-redColor\" href=\"https:\/\/ringmagazine.com\/en\/fighters\/artur-beterbiev-182\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Artur Beterbiev<\/a>]. But if that fight does happen, you know, Imma be ready for it. And it\u2019s looking like it could happen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have the [WBC] belt at 175. Canelo says he only fights for greatness, for titles, that\u2019s what excites him. So, now I got a title. You know what I mean? I&#8217;mma just keep winning these fights and I\u2019m not thinking about Canelo. But if it does happen, we\u2019re gonna be ready.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Keith Idec is a senior writer and columnist for The Ring. He can be reached on X @idecboxing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS \u2013 Even with a fascinating, 50-50 fight fast approaching, Canelo Alvarez couldn\u2019t avoid David Benavidez\u2019s name&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4108],"tags":[1935,10188,10181,10187,10186,10179,4496,10182,10183,10184,10185,10180,10193,10192,10175,10173,10174,10190,10176,10172,10194,10189,79,10191,10171,10178,16,15,10177],"class_list":{"0":"post-419034","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-boxing-community","10":"tag-boxing-fights","11":"tag-boxing-history","12":"tag-boxing-interviews","13":"tag-boxing-magazine","14":"tag-boxing-news","15":"tag-boxing-photos","16":"tag-boxing-rankings","17":"tag-boxing-results","18":"tag-boxing-schedule","19":"tag-boxing-videos","20":"tag-disqualification","21":"tag-draw","22":"tag-fight","23":"tag-fighter","24":"tag-fighter-news","25":"tag-knockout","26":"tag-latest-boxing-matches","27":"tag-ring","28":"tag-ring-magazine","29":"tag-split-decision","30":"tag-sports","31":"tag-technical-knockout","32":"tag-the-ring","33":"tag-top-fighters","34":"tag-uk","35":"tag-united-kingdom","36":"tag-upcoming-boxing-matches"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115192611707685259","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}