Former Showtime executive Stephen Espinoza believes a fight between Canelo Alvarez and David Benavidez is still possible after the Mexican star faces Jaime Munguia on May 4th.
Espinoza, who is working with Premier Boxing Champions now, says they’ll start figuring it out a week after Canelo defends his undisputed super middleweight championship against Munguia on May 4th in their Amazon Prime and DAZN PPV clash in Las Vegas.
The question is where will PBC get the $150-200 million that Canelo wants for him to entertain the idea of fighting Benavidez because that kind of dough is likely outside of PBC’s financial reach.
Saudi promoter Turki Alalshikh reportedly is going in another direction with Benavidez, wanting to match him against the winner of the June 1st fight between IBF/WBC/WBO light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev and WBC champ Dmitry Bivol rather than meeting Canelo’s asking price of 150-200 million.
Espinoza Understands Canelo’s Focus
“I wouldn’t say he’s never going to fight David Benavidez. I don’t believe that. I still have faith that he’s very much considering that,” said former Showtime executive Stephen Espinoza to Fight Hub TV’s YouTube channel about Canelo Alvarez.
With Espinoza now working with PBC, it makes sense for him to want Canelo to fight the PBC-managed Benavidez because it’s a match that would be shown on Amazon Prime, and would provide the huge new platform a great fight, creating a good impression on them.
Many boxing fans believe that Showtime dumped boxing due to the lackluster events that PBC put on. One was Benavidez against a washed-looking 35-year-old Demetrius Andrade last December on PPV. That fight wasn’t even mildly entertaining.
“That’s how I would be too,’ said Espinoza when told that Canelo is very dismissive about a fight against Benavidez. “Everybody knows it’s there, and everybody knows how attractive it is. Right now, no one is talking about it or thinking about it.
Benavidez in the Conversation
“He’s [Canelo] got a fight to do on May 4th, but a week or two later, we’ll start figuring it out. So, at that point, I think Benavidez will be very much in the conversation,” said Espinoza.
It’s always nice to hope that Canelo will fight Benavidez, but Espinoza and PBC need to be realistic. Instead of wasting time on this, they need to find viable options for Canelo to encourage him to continue fighting on PBC.
As for Benavidez, matching him against David Morrell Jr. would be a good start because that would be the first quality opponent he’s faced that wasn’t old or much smaller than him. Either that or move Benavidez up to cruiserweight to take on Jai Opetaia.
“We’ll see,” said Espinoza when told that Terence Crawford is too far out from a fight against Canelo due to the weight. “I’ll give him [Crawford] the benefit of the doubt given his track record because he has a track record of 12+ years at the top level of fighting the toughest fights available. So, I don’t think that’ll change now,” said Espinoza.
