‘Does he really have to keep proving himself’: Lampley talks about Canelo not facing Benavidez

Then what's the point of continuing fighting or even more, holdnig a champsionship belt? If he wants easy touches, drop the belts and go fight Logan Paul FFS...

 

I would agree with Lamps, if not for all of those screwy scorecards. I just cannot give Canelo any sort of credit with all of that controversy.

He is a good fighter. That's about it. Good.

 

Canelo, atleast to me and anybody who isn't biased, has already proven himself.
But since he's at the top of his division and holds all the belts it's his obligation to give his best challengers opportunities to prove themselves. Especially Benavidez.

I understood him not fighting him in 2021-2022 because Benavidez had lost his title due to a lack of discipline and didn't have much of a resume. If he'd beaten Benavidez people would've just said that Benavidez was overrated and hadn't beaten anybody. But by this point Benavidez should absolutely be fighting Canelo. He beat a common opponent in Plant and then undefeated Andrade who's also been lobbying for a Canelo fight. Canelo told everyone that to earn a fight with him they needed to fight eachother (he was 100% right in saying this), but now that Benavidez is doing that, Canelo doesn't seem to want to give him the fight.

Who else is more deserving of a shot than Benavidez? Munguia? Charlo? Edgar Berlanga lmao?

 

LOOOOOOOOOL.

You know it's a duck when everyone in the sport has an opinion on it.

 

He was giving massive **** to RJJ for fighting guys like Eric Lucas but plays the company man for clenelo.

 

He's a champion. He should fight his top contender. It really is that simple.

Some boxing fans are that much of a fan that they make excuses for their guy not facing the top contender, it's mental.

 

If you are the champion the guy seen as number 1, then yes you of course have to keep proving yourself. Nobody gets a pass, no matter what you do did before. Maybe if you don't have much time left in your career and are choosing money fights that's understandable to some degree but Canelo has made more money than he can ever spend and is still only 33, so arguably is still prime or close to it.

As to why he's not loved universally, no fighter is and he's more popular than most, more popular than Lewis ever was. Plus Canelo has done things during his career that have turned fans off him. I used to be a fan but then he ducked GGG, trying to age him out, he lost my respect then. Then of course there was the doping scandal and how the WBC bent over backwards to give him a pass. That set him up as the company guy, the guy with privilege and that doesn't sit well with all fans, we want warriors who will face anyone and any time go to other fighters backyards and beat them, the business man, risk/reward calculated fighters doesn't inspires fans.

 

This.

 

Lampley was always cheerleader for the house fighter on HBO not an unbiased commentator. The only reason every American seemed to hate Lennox was due to one simple thing............
Lennox Claudius Lewis was born in Hampstead, London England which automatically gave him BRITISH citizenship but by being born in London also made him a COCKNEY to boot !!!!!!!!!!! They've tried every which way to call him Jamaican or even Canadian anything to try to dispute his British Citizenship.
Lennox himself answered a loud mouthed US reporters question " Who do you represent Lennox England, Jamaica or Canada" ???? I saw Lennox grin as he answered with this bombshell " Well as I'm currently the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World I guess I represent the whole world wouldn't you say" ? That silenced the loudmouth Instantly

 

Great Post You tell it as it truly is

 

This is such a weird take. Canelo is pretty much always expected to fight the best available competition while others can do whatever and its just "fine".

Canelo beats Kovalev in his first fight at 175 then fights and beats 2 belt SMW champ (who was undefeated) Callum Smith, fights and stops mandatory challenger Yildrim, then unifies SMW division by beating undefeated champs in BJS and Plant back to back. Canelo then immediately moves up to 175 to face yet another undefeated champion at LHW and loses decisively against Bivol. Afterward he moves back down to 168 for a grudge match w old GGG and wins clearly for the first time in their series. Canelo then defends his SMW titles again versus mandatory Ryder and looks very human in doing so, but wins clearly. Canelo then takes a voluntary defense against Jermell Charlo (the 154lb unified champion) in somewhat of a freak fight, but it happened with expectation for Jermell, Jermall, and Spence fight happening.

***Keep in mind the thought process was that Jermall wouldnt look awful versus Jose Benavidez and that Spence would beat Crawford. Neither of those things happened and that's out of Canelo's control.

So Canelo, since December of 2020, has 8 fights and 6 of those fights were either to win a belt or defend belts in a mandatory defense. His 2 voluntary defenses were GGG and Jermell Charlo.

Now Canelo is fighting yet another undefeated champion in Munguia. Its a good fight. Its not the best possible fight, as that would be Benavidez, but Munguia is still a good opponent.

Benavidez, in that same time span, fought Ronald Ellis, Kyrone Davis on short notice, David Lemiuex (is this 2015?), Caleb Plant, and Demetrius Andrade. I liked the Andrade win but it has to mentioned that Andrade was a former 154lb fighter who was KD at that weight by fringe contender level opponents so he always had a suspect chin. Supporting that idea Andrade ducked out of the Jermall fight and spent his entire career being both inactive and consistently fighting C level competition. Andrade was a good win but not great.

It is true that Canelo should be fighting Benavidez in May but why is it - yet again - that Benavidez is fighting a has-been. Why is he not at least fighting Joe Smith or Callum Smith or even Gilberto Ramirez? He's fighting someone who has 3 fights since 2019 all of which were against D level competition.

I want the Canelo Benavidez fight. Its the best fight that can be had at 168. If not then I want the next best fights for each guy. For Canelo, Munguia is probably the 2nd best fight he could take. For Benavidez, Gvodzyk is probably the 5th or 6th (or lower) best fight he could take. And history shows Benavidez has taken MANY soft touches.

If you expect Canelo to fight killers every time out that's fine but have that same energy when youre talking about Benavidez or so-called Tank Davis or Deontay Wilder or any of the PBC fan favorites. Because its almost always the PBC fanboys pushing these narratives to hype up PBC fighters even if its unwarranted - which it almost always is.

 

Fight your No.1 contender or relinquish the belt and fight whomever you like.

Next.

 

So other than Bivol and the first GGG rematch, which fights did anyone actually think he'd lose? He was favored to beat Bivol, only people who follow the sport thought Bivol would win.

 

There are like 4-5 no. 1 contenders, franchise champs, and champions in recession.

What you talk about