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Canelo vs. “The Mexican Monster” is never happening.
Former WBA (Super), WBC, IBF, WBO and The Ring Super Middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez returns to action later this year for the first time since losing all of his titles to Terence Crawford.
Alvarez will face Christian Mbilli for the WBC Super Middleweight title on Oct. 31, 2026 — not Sept. 12 — in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
But while in New York doing press for his upcoming boxing match, Alvarez was once again asked about the one fight that just will not go away:
David Benavidez.
Benavidez has been chasing the Canelo fight for years, dating all the way back to November 2021, immediately after his seventh-round technical knockout win over Kyrone Davis. At the time, both fighters were still competing in the same division, but Benavidez was not nearly as big of a star as he is now.
So, Canelo brushed him off.
Benavidez kept winning anyway.
“The Mexican Monster” continued stacking victories and defending his WBC interim Super Middleweight title, but the Canelo fight never came. Eventually, instead of waiting around for a money fight that clearly was not happening, Benavidez moved up in weight to chase more titles.
And now, according to Canelo, that move is the exact reason the fight cannot happen.
“I’ve always been in that situation where [there’s another guy to call me out], so it’s nothing strange for me,” Canelo told Ariel Helwani. “When it was Cotto, Mayweather, they were talking about Callum, Triple G. … Right now, it’s Benavidez. But he’s a Heavyweight. He’s a Heavyweight fighting at 175, or, I don’t know, Cruiserweight. But he’s a Heavyweight. It’s not fair.”
That is certainly one way to frame it.
Canelo also argued that the right time to make the fight has already passed.
“When I turned undisputed champion, and if he was to be a champion at that point, then that was the correct time to do the fight, but he wasn’t,” Canelo said. “He was fighting at 168 at that point, but he wasn’t a champion. I think that was the perfect moment to do it.”
Canelo then confirmed there were never any real discussions to make the fight.
Alvarez took an even bigger shot at Benavidez when asked if “The Mexican Monster” could become the next Mexican superstar to replace him.
According to Canelo, that is not happening either.
“He’s not Mexican,” Canelo said. “It’s different. Mexican American, yeah.”
Canelo then said Ryan Garcia is a bigger Mexican-American star than Benavidez, which, for better or worse, is probably true.
Still, none of this changes the obvious reality.
Benavidez wanted the Canelo fight when they were in the same division. Canelo did not give it to him. Now that Benavidez has moved on and added more hardware, Canelo says he is too big.
So, yeah, Canelo vs. Benavidez is never happening.
And Canelo sounds completely fine with that.
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