|
Philippines, 11 Jul 2026 |
Home >> News |  |
|
||||
|
|
|
|
Canelo vs Benavidez on Cinco De Mayo 2027? Maybe. By Ralph Rimpell PhilBoxing.com Sat, 11 Jul 2026  WBA(Super)/WBO cruiserweight (200 lbs) and current WBA (Regular)/WBC light heavyweight (175 lbs) champion David “Mexican Monster” Benavidez (32-0, 26 KOs) burst onto the boxing scene to become the youngest super middleweight (168 lbs) champion ever at the age of 20, defeating Ronald Gavril for the vacant title via split decision. "Split decision" means at least one official boxing judge scored the fight in favor of Gavril, while the others scored it in favor of Benavidez. To leave no doubt that he was the true champion, Benavidez rematched Gavril five months later in 2018 and defeated him by unanimous decision. Benavidez would have two reigns as the WBC 168 lbs champion, losing the title each time not by defeat in the ring against a better opponent, but due to his own shortcomings. Benavidez was first stripped of the title for testing positive for cocaine in September 2018. After serving a four-month suspension for the failed drug test, he received another opportunity at the WBC 168 lbs title against Anthony Dirrell, whom he defeated in September 2019. For his next scheduled bout, a defense against Roamer Alexis Angulo, Benavidez failed to make the 168 lbs limit and was stripped of the title again. Motivated to regain his belt, Benavidez continued fighting in the 168 lbs division. Meanwhile, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (63-3-2, 39 KOs)—a superstar, future Hall of Famer, multi-divisional world champion, and arguably the greatest Mexican fighter to date—became a four-division champion by winning the WBA (Super) and WBC 168 lbs titles from Callum Smith in 2020. In 2021, Canelo added the WBO version of the 168 lbs title by defeating Billy Joe Saunders, and the IBF version from Caleb Plant, becoming the first Mexican fighter to be undisputed in the super middleweight division. All the while, Benavidez was Canelo’s mandatory challenger for the WBC 168 lbs title for over two years. Thus far, Canelo has refused to fight Benavidez, giving various reasons, such as claiming Benavidez had not fought any worthy opponents. When the media continued to apply pressure for Canelo to take the fight, he stated he would only fight Benavidez for a whopping sum of $200 million guaranteed. Reportedly, Canelo’s price was met by various fight organizers, with Benavidez set to receive only a reported $5 million, but there was no further word from the Canelo camp regarding the matchup. Canelo went on to fight former number-one rated pound-for-pound champion Terence “Bud” Crawford, who defeated Canelo via unanimous decision last September 2025 in an exciting fight for the undisputed super middleweight title. Benavidez has since moved up to the light heavyweight (175 lbs) and cruiserweight (200 lbs) divisions to win world titles in both weight classes, maintaining that he can return to the 175 lbs division should Canelo ever decide to fight him. The Canelo camp has recently given another reason why they will not fight Benavidez, citing that because he recently won two cruiserweight titles, he is no longer in the same weight division as Canelo. This current rationale is not a compelling reason. In 2021, Canelo’s camp officially asked the WBC for permission to move up in weight from 168 lbs to challenge then-WBC cruiserweight champion Ilunga Makabu. While that ultimately didn’t happen, Canelo instead challenged WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol, losing a decision. Furthermore, in 2023, Canelo reportedly asked former WBC cruiserweight champion Badou Jack for a catchweight fight (dropping down from 200 lbs to 180 lbs) with a rehydration clause (restricting how much fluid could be consumed after the official weigh-in), which the former champion refused. Therefore, the willingness and ability to go from 168 lbs (super middleweight) to the cruiserweight division has been there for not just one fighter, but two. Why not three fighters, with Benavidez being the third whom Canelo should be willing to fight at 175 lbs, a catchweight of 180 lbs (as in the reported case of Badou Jack), or at the cruiserweight limit of 200 lbs? Canelo was reported to have undergone left elbow surgery after the Crawford fight. He has since recovered and has signed to challenge WBC super middleweight champion Christian Mbilli (29-0-1, 24 KOs). Initially, the bout was scheduled for September 12, 2026, but it has now been postponed to late October 2026, according to social media reports. While Mbilli is a very good fighter who could potentially pull off an upset, most believe Canelo will be victorious. Meanwhile, David Benavidez is reportedly in negotiations with WBC cruiserweight champion Noel Mikaelian. If that fight is signed, Benavidez is expected to win as well. The biggest and most lucrative fight in all of boxing remains Benavidez vs. Canelo. With all due respect, Benavidez vs. Canelo is bigger than Gervonta "Tank" Davis vs. Shakur Stevenson, Sebastian Fundora vs. Jaron "Boots" Ennis, Ryan Garcia vs. Conor Benn, or Devin Haney vs. Shakur Stevenson. If Canelo defeats Mbilli, the offer to fight Benavidez is, as the expression goes, “an offer he can’t refuse.” Benavidez’s stock as a fighter has continued to soar, and Canelo’s boxing brand is firmly established. Terence “Bud” Crawford received a reported guaranteed $50 million fight purse for fighting Canelo. Benavidez would likely receive a similar $50 million purse against Canelo’s $200 million request. A Canelo vs. Benavidez fight card would no doubt perform as well on pay-per-view as the massive mega-fights of the past, like Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, Mayweather vs. Canelo, and Mayweather vs. McGregor. It just makes good business sense, and Canelo would not be walking away from what would likely be the largest guaranteed fight purse ever. In addition, Canelo would silence the critics who say he fears Benavidez, solidifying his legacy as someone who fought the best fighters of his era. Should he defeat Benavidez, his legacy would be enhanced, and he could ride off into the sunset. Should he lose, he would be passing the torch in the same manner Muhammad Ali passed the torch to Larry Holmes—inside the ring. Regardless of the outcome, it is simply good business because they are both prize fighters. Between the guaranteed purses, pay-per-view revenue, live gate receipts, foreign TV rights, site fees, merchandise, and vendors, both fighters could earn more money from this single night than they could in their next ten fights combined. This promises to be the richest matchup in boxing history, especially if it is held on Cinco de Mayo 2027. There is just too much money to leave on the table. Recently, it has come to light that Benavidez is experiencing some personal issues with his fiancée. Hopefully, he can resolve these matters and maintain his boxing focus. From there, boxing's financial minds can open a dialogue with both camps to agree on financial terms, weight, and a venue, so the boxing public can finally get what they want: Canelo vs. Benavidez. Boxing Notes What is going on with the lighter weights? WBO welterweight (147lbs) champion Devin Haney has been ordered by the WBO to fight former lightweight (135lbs) champion Keyshawn Davis who now fights in the 147lbs division. The bigger and most lucrative fight is WBO jr. welterweight (140lbs) champion Shakur Stevenson vs Devin Haney. Shakur reportedly wanted to fight at a “catchweight” of 144lbs and a rehydration clause to agree to fight Haney, which Haney reportedly agreed to. Then Shakur still did not sign to fight Haney. Shakur said he would fight O’Shaquie Foster if he beat his friend Raymond Ford (which he did in his last outing), was willing to fight fellow champion Gary Antoine Russell who holds the WBA version of the WBO title, and before that was in negotiations to fight IBF lightweight champion Raymond Muratalla. To date, No announced fight for Shakur Stevenson. Shakur says he wants the “biggest fights”. As of the writing of this article, it was announced that Shakur has signed with the newly formed Zuffa Boxing. Hopefully Shakur will secure the “Big Fights” he says he wants now that he has signed with Zuffa Boxing…The boxing rumor mill suggest newly crowned WBA/WBO junior middleweight champion (154lbs) Jaron “Boots” Ennis fresh off an impressive victory over Xander Zayas last month is close to announcing a fight with top contender Vergil Ortiz for a Big Fight. Let’s hope there is an official announcement and the rumors are true…WBA welterweight champion Rolando “Rolly” Romero has signed to fight former two division champion Teofimo Lopez. This will be an interesting fight. While Rolly is the bigger stronger fighter he is a much-improved fighter from the fighter that used to brawl and Soley relies on strength instead of strategy. Look at Rolly’s performance when he defeated Ryan Garcia to win his title. Rolly used a good jab, good defense, threw punch combinations, and had good footwork. While this Writer gives the edge to Teofimo via split decision victory over Rolly, it won’t be easy against this Rolly. Look for the winner of this fight to unify with Ryan Garcia or Devin Haney in a big money fight in 2027… Former unified welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr vs former WBO welterweight champion Tim Tsyzu is later this month in what will be a very intriguing matchup. Spence has not fought in 3 years since his defeat to Terrance Crawford. Recently Spence revealed his loss to Crawford was due to rib injury in training camp which prevented him from sparring prior to the Crawford fight and some ongoing problems with his former trainer Derrick James. Tsyzu once a rising star in the 154lbs division has been 3-3 in his last six fights. He now trains with former world champion boxing trainer Jeff Fenech for his last two fights, which were victories. The winner between Tsyzu vs Spence will have revitalized their career and be line to fight the likes of Fundora, Ennis, Josh Kelly and all other top names in the 154lbs division. ***Ralph Rimpell is a writer based out of New York and is a Boxing Correspondent for Philboxing.com. Ralph holds an undergraduate degree from City University of New York. He has been a Boxing Writer for over ten years having written for several top boxing websites on the World Wide Web. Before becoming a writer, Ralph's passion was for professional wrestling until he realized professional wrestling was entertainment and not a real sport. It was at that time the 1984 US Olympic team made up of future stars such as Evander Holyfield, Meldrick Taylor, Pernell Whitaker, etc. entered the professional ranks and signed with promotional outfit Main Events.It was also at that time a young exciting Heavyweight originally hailing from Brooklyn named Mike Tyson also turned professional and became the face of boxing. Young boxing fan Ralph just couldn't get enough of boxing as a large part of it was being broadcast on "free TV". As time went on, Ralph felt boxing writers were not being forthcoming with their boxing coverage, opinion pieces, interviews, etc. So Ralph decided to write an article and submitted it to a Boxing website thinking it would be deleted and ignored by the Editor. To Ralph's surprise his article was posted on their website and the readers embraced it. The rest is history. "I thank God for the Internet because it has created opportunities for writers like myself who likely would not have been given an opportunity to write for print publications. I hope someday soon to expand my role in Boxing on different levels." -- Ralph Rimpell Contact Writer: RLuvsboxing@aol.com Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ralph Rimpell.  |
|
|
PhilBoxing.com has been created to support every aspiring Filipino boxer and the Philippine boxing scene in general. Please send comments to feedback@philboxing.com |
PRIVATE POLICY | LEGAL DISCLAIMER
developed and maintained by dong secuya © 2026 philboxing.com. |
