David Benavidez will take on David Morrell on Saturday night as the two compete for the interim WBC World Light Heavyweight title, but also has a future opponent in mind.
The current interim champion will aim to make his professional record 30-0 with a win over Morrell in Las Vegas.
Should Benavidez succeed, he will be granted an opportunity to fight the winner of Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol on February 22nd. A fight in which Benavidez predicted Bivol to defeat his rival.
Although the American may have some idea who his next two opponents are, there is still one name that Benavidez is keeping his eye on.
Canelo Alvarez sent lucrative message by David Benavidez
A fight between Canelo Alvarez and Benavidez has been on boxing fans’ lips for quite some time now. As the two have both competed at super middleweight, it could be a possibility in the near future.
Speaking to All The Smoke Fight about the Mexican, Benavidez welcomed the challenge from one of the greatest middleweight boxers of all time.
Describing it as “the biggest fight that could possibly be made,” Benavidez explained he was confident in his ability to defeat the modern great, Alvarez.
Benavidez would go on to say that a true champion responds to claims and call-outs from contenders, which is why he accepted the fight with Morrell.
This is something that the light heavyweight feels Alvarez should do, as Benavidez has said on multiple occasions that he would be the winner of a potential matchup.
“If I’m sitting here telling Canelo, I can knock him out, I can beat him, why doesn’t he just come shut me up and make a lot of money?”
Benavidez then claimed that Alvarez is fighting “easier” opponents, but a fight with him would result in “triple” the paycheck.
David Benavidez reveals how much he was offered to fight Canelo Alvarez
Speaking to All The Smoke Fight, Benavidez revealed the amount of money he was offered to fight Canelo in the past.
“They had offered me $5 million [to fight Alvarez},” Benavidez said. However, he did not mention when the negotiations took place.
The fighter would also add that the figure was a flat fee and that he would receive no additional income from pay-per-view sales.
As for the amount of money that Alvarez was offered, Benavidez claimed it to be $70 million. As well as this figure, the Mexican would also be a recipient of extra income based on PPV revenue.
Benavidez would then add that he accepted the fight for the figure of $5 million, but the bout never came to fruition.