Benavidez Vs Gvozdyk in June

I already addressed this here: He has been a top ten SMW for 7 years. For 3 years he's been the best SMW not called Canelo. For 2 years he's been the interim champion.

 

The deadline to commit to fighting Benavidez was March. It's February. Facts

 

Do you not understand that Benavidez is the mandatory challenger and it's his choice, not Canelo's at this point? If Benavidez confirms his mandatory status, Canelo has to fight him this year. If he chooses to move up to 175, then you do the math. That means he's avoiding enforcing his mandatory title shot and is choosing to campaign at 175 instead.

 

Not everything is as black and white as you wished it were.

Benavidez became the WBC mandatory in March 2022 when he beat Plant. According to WBC rules the Champ has 12 months to agree to a fight with the mandatory.

Next month would have been one year.

 

LOL don't give him an out. It's very clear that Benavidez can force Canelo to fight him this year. Canelo would be stripped of Undisputed if he refused. But if Benavidez is moving up to 175 in June, then he's clearly not interested in challenging Canelo. And that wouldn't be Canelo ducking, that would be Benavidez ducking the fight and running away to 175.

 

Irrelevant. He lost his opportuntity during those 7 years by being stripped of the title twice. Over the last 2 years he worked his way back into contention and now he's in position to challenge for Undisputed. If he's moving up to 175 in June then he's clearly ducking the fight, a fight that he can force now.

 

167 and 166 his last 2 fights. What’s the issue here?

 

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I'll take Gvozdyk here. Looks to be in great physical form despite the three-year absence.

 

If Canelo turns it down, and chooses to fight Munguia or Charlo in May instead, I'm still trying to understand why would Benavidez then move up to 175. He would still have the ability to enforce the mandatory later this year, which would presumably be in September, and probably would get a bigger split at that point.

I do think Canelo should accept the offer and fight Benavidez in May. If he turns it down he'll be accused of ducking the fight. At the same time, if you're Benavidez, you're pretty much guaranteed to get the fight in September, so there's no need to move up to 175 now with the fight this close to happening. Maybe it's just a ploy to get Canelo to agree to the fight, in which case it would be brilliant, but if he actually moves up to 175 in June, then he's pretty much throwing away the opportunity to fight Canelo later this year. If Canelo agrees to fight him not in May but in September, then Benavidez shouldn't mess around moving up to 175 with the fight of his life on the horizon. It will only hurt his chances win or lose.

 

He's not guaranteed anything regarding fighting Canelo. The WBC once made GGG his mandatory and Canelo promptly dropped the title. He does not care about the backlash at all and won't be dictated by their terms. David would be a fool to wait around if Canelo has already stated that he won't fight him this year.

 

Canelo is not dropping the WBC Belt to avoid Benavidez. That would mean he's no longer Undisputed and he just won't do that. The GGG situation was completely different. As a reminder, the WBC has made it clear that Canelo must fight Benavidez this year. The only way he wouldn't is if Benavidez chooses to move up to 175 voluntarily and not enforce the mandatory.

 

Shut up.

 

A few points:

- The mandatory is comparatively meaningless, Canelo doesn't really care about getting stripped. Becoming undisputed is a big thing, if some org wants to strip him later it really doesn't matter so much. As such, Benavidez is not guaranteed the September fight, Canelo fights who he chooses. I also think that if Benavidez and Canelo agree to fight in 2025, the WBC will be okay with this. The WBC mandated the fight simply to help Haymon pressure Canelo and to look good in the eyes of the public.

- Moving up is not giving up on the Canelo fight. This move is probably a mix of: Benavidez trying to put pressure on Canelo to accept the fight sooner rather than later (as you suggested); and Benavidez keeping his name relevant while the promoters stick to their plan. Personally my guess is that the promoters are both trying to see whether the fight is going to get any bigger, whilst positioning themselves for a bigger share of the pot (the more pressure there is on Canelo, the more PBC will get).

- Going up to 175 for Gvozdyk and back to 168 for Canelo is not actually such a huge problem, Benavidez wouldn't need to put any size on, he'd just drain himself less. He walks around at 185-190 lb or so anyway. I have my doubts as to whether Gvozdyk would actually come to win, his competitive desire was (I think) broken by Beterbiev. I think @CST80 is correct that pre-Beterbiev Gvozdyk has a great chance to win this, but he won't win now without really wanting it. I think his whole comeback is just for the purpose of cashing out against Benavidez, (if not him, Bivol or even Canelo). Gvozdyk is the perfect "good back-up opponent" here, if Canelo agrees to fight Benavidez this year he'll happily crush a few B-level fighters instead while waiting. Let's hope he proves me wrong if he gets the chance.

 

The Nail stops him inside 10 rounds