Canelo Alvarez on Terence Crawford and David Benavidez: Everybody Wants To Fight Me

Due to boxing sanctioning body politics, Canelo Alvarez is no longer the undisputed super middleweight champion. But make no mistake, the 34-year-old is still the man in boxing, and carries himself as such.

"Everybody wants to fight me," the four-division champion told Complex. "Everybody is calling me out."

But who does Canelo want to fight?

For now it's Edgar Berlanga on September 14th in Las Vegas. A once tantalizing prospect with a reputation as a fearsome puncher. But once Berlanga's career sparking string of highlight reel knockouts ended at 16 in 2021, the hype waned. Now, many see the fight as an unnecessary side quest for Canelo with much better and bigger fights available to him.

"I can do whatever I want, I deserve it," Canelo said about the Berlanga fight. "I think this is a really good fight. He's going to bring everything to the table and he's going to come forward and it's going to be a really good fight. That's the (type of) fights I like. Not somebody running and (just) trying to survive the fight. I like fighters that come to win, try to win and that makes the fight big and good."

While Canelo is right, it does appear on paper to be a great action fight just waiting to happen, and even with the added element of the age old rivalry between Mexican and Puerto Rican fighters, fans are still begging for other matchups for the champ.

Many view newly minted WBA super welterweight champion Terence Crawford as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, and despite the 14 pound weight and three weight division difference, a natural foe for Canelo.

Canelo disagrees.

"I have nothing to win with Crawford," he said. "Two, three weight classes less than me?"

But Canelo doesn't outright refuse a matchup with Mr. Whoopin Feet. He just adds the age old idiom, "But if the money is right, why not?"

How about David Benavidez? A former super middleweight champion in his prime who has called Canelo out for years.

The Mexican Monster made his debut at light heavyweight in his last fight, an underwhelming win and has since decided to stay in that division and forego his right as Canelo's mandatory challenger for the WBC belt at super middleweight. The same WBC belt Benavidez twice held, but lost outside the ring both times, once in 2018 for a failed drug test then again in 2020 after he weighed in two pounds over the 168 pound limit.

And weight seems to be the operative word in any discussion about that fight.

"Benavidez is around 200 pounds right now," Canelo said. His trainer Eddy Reynoso agrees.

"Super middleweight, 168 pounds, is his weight and that's the only weight they're going to fight," Reynoso added when discussing a potential clash. "There's tons of promoters that can make that happen."

For as bad as fans want to see those two particular fights, there is also the sense that Canelo is running out of opponents as well. His resume is a who's who of the era, littered with world champions across weight divisions. Berlanga will be his 66th fight, and his first as a 34 year old. He has no intentions to leave the 168 pound division and very few options left there for fights.

So how close is Canelo to the end of the road?

"Four, five years more," he says. "Maybe. I don't know. I like to see everything day by day. I still enjoy boxing. And I'm good. I feel like I'm 24. And i still enjoy my training camps and my fights. But I like to be day by day."

Next year marks his 20th year as a professional, two decades of wear and tear.

"I feel good," he says of the wear and tear. But what about the knockouts that became a staple in his prime? His last five fights have seen the final bell, though his last three opponents have touched the canvas.

"I take my time," he said. "I'm in no hurry to get a knockout every single fight. I take my time and I show them how good I am in 12 rounds. And they say 'hey he's going to tire out in 7 rounds' and I show them that's not true. I enjoy it and I take my time. But I can do it. If I was to put in a little more (effort) I (could have) knocked out Mungia too. But I'm having fun."

The future seems to be full of possibilities for the future hall of famer. He says his car collection is finished, with his prized LaFerrari as his favorite. His kids are healthy and he's ready to support them in all their endeavors, even if it's a stab at the family business as a pugilist. And now he looks forward to the what the future may hold.

"I'm looking in business right now. I'm focused on business," he said. "(My future) could be in boxing business. But other business as well. If I'm still in boxing after I retire it's going to be to help the fighters and teach them how boxing really works."

But for now, there's a task at hand. Maybe not the one the fans want most, but it's the one on the calendar. And while he may have his post fight traditional Sunday round of golf scheduled, he has to handle Saturday, September 14th first.

"I'm focused 100 percent on Berlanga. I know I have a challenge in front of me. I never overlook any fighter."