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David Benavidez didn’t dismiss Kyrone Davis entirely as they sat on a stage Thursday in Phoenix.
Benavidez predicted he would extend his knockout streak to five when he faces Davis on Saturday night at Footprint Center, where the Phoenix-born Benavidez intends to put on a show for his hometown fans. When it came time to talk about potentially challenging Canelo Alvarez for super middleweight supremacy, though, Benavidez declined.
“To be honest, bro, I’m not even thinking about Canelo,” Benavidez told Showtime’s Brian Custer, the moderator of their press conference. “I’m thinking about Kyrone Davis.”
Make no mistake, Benavidez realizes that the timing is perfect for him to make another impressive statement versus Davis and strengthen his position as a potential opponent for the Mexican superstar’s return to the ring early in May.
Benavidez, a former WBC 168-pound champion, and WBC middleweight champ Jermall Charlo are the two leading candidates among fighters affiliated with Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions to land the very lucrative, high-profile opportunity to battle Alvarez on Cinco de Mayo weekend in Las Vegas. Alvarez, who is a promotional and network/streaming free agent, also could opt to move back up to the light heavyweight division to box unbeaten WBA 175-pound champion Dmitry Bivol or finally fight rival Gennadiy Golovkin a third time, both of which would require Alvarez to return to DAZN and promoter Eddie Hearn.
The 24-year-old Benavidez believes he has earned the opportunity to knock off the iconic four-division champion considered by most experts as the best boxer, pound-for-pound, in the sport.
“Honestly, I feel like I’ll get that fight because who else does Canelo have left to fight at 168?,” Benavidez told BoxingScene.com. “I feel like I’m the only true candidate left. I feel like I’m the only one left with the experience in this weight class to have earned the opportunity to fight against him. So, I feel like I’m front and center.”
Benavidez indeed is front and center less than a week after Alvarez knocked out Benavidez’s rival, previously unbeaten Caleb Plant, in the 11th round to become boxing’s first fully unified super middleweight champion.
Alvarez might never have received the chance to reign as undisputed super middleweight champion if not for Benavidez twice surrendering his title without actually losing a fight – first for testing positive for cocaine and again for coming in nearly three pounds overweight for a title defense. Now all Benavidez can do is hope Alvarez grants him a chance to win the WBC 168-pound crown a third time.
The 31-year-old Alvarez told Custer during a recent episode of his podcast that he would prefer to fight Charlo over Benavidez, but Benavidez remains hopeful that he’ll headline a pay-per-view event with Alvarez next.
“I feel like there’s a really big opportunity for me,” Benavidez said. “I feel like there are a lot of big fights on the horizon for me, so I’m gonna keep working hard. That Canelo fight is a potential big matchup that the people wanna see. I will be extremely ready for it when the opportunity comes. I feel like, you know, I’ve got a lot of power. I have as much power as Canelo. I’ve got footwork, speed, you know, and I’m a volume puncher, a combination puncher. And yeah, I feel like I have a lot of belief in myself and I feel like this is the fight people wanna see, so I’m excited to make it happen.”
Unfortunately for Benavidez, winning Saturday night won’t guarantee that he’ll become a mandatory challenger for the IBF or WBC belts that Alvarez owns. His fight against Jose Uzcategui was an IBF/WBC elimination match, but once Uzcategui was removed from their bout two weeks ago for failing a performance-enhancing drug test the IBF and WBC declined to sanction Benavidez-Davis as an eliminator.
The heavily favored Benavidez (24-0, 21 KOs) senses he’ll dominate Davis (16-2-1, 6 KOs), of Wilmington, Delaware. Though more focused on handling his own business in this “Showtime Championship Boxing” main event (9 p.m. ET; 6 p.m. PT), Benavidez commended Alvarez for how he methodically dismantled Plant on Saturday night at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Guadalajara’s Alvarez (57-1-2, 39 KOs) dropped Plant twice in the 11th round, which caused referee Russell Mora to stop their 12-rounder 1:05 into it. Alvarez retained his WBA, WBC and WBO belts and won the IBF crown from Plant (21-1, 12 KOs), of Ashland City, Tennessee, to become boxing’s sixth fully unified champion in any division during the four-belt era.
“He looked really good,” Benavidez said. “I feel like Canelo’s Canelo. That’s like a shark in the water, you know, he takes you into deep waters and he definitely had a good performance. But it went exactly how I thought it was gonna go. You know, I thought Caleb Plant was gonna start off good, but I thought the power was gonna eventually help [Alvarez] land a big shot in the second half of the fight. And that’s exactly what happened.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.