If you were up on it he said he’d come down to 168 for Canelo, thereby being his biggest fight at that weight. Try and keep up.
Fans ask for a lot of things all the time, and fighters sometimes, a lot of times don't oblige. Sooo?? Golovkin-Ward, Bivol-Beterbiev, Joshua-Wilder, Joshua-Fury, Lomachenko-Berchelt, Lomachenko-Mikey.... and all those fights except for the Golovkin-Ward needed to happen. Canelo-Benavidez does not need to happen. Had Benavidez waited ONE week to enforce his mandatory status then it would of needed to happen.. instead for some ODD reason, Benavidez made an announcement a week before the power shifted to him that he was campaigning at 175. Make that make sense. LOL
What exactly is your point? That Canelo needs to fight Benavidez ay 175 because he tested himself twice at 175? Or that Canelo needs to fight Benavidez at 168 because Canelo fought at 175 twice?
I know what he said. In other words he's saying, "Making 168 is not in my best interest anymore, but I'll drain down to 168 one more time for a Canelo peydey." Again, Benavidez moving to 175 a week before he was able to enforce his mandatory status was very stupid on his part if he in fact wanted to fight Canelo.
The difference is, of course, that Canelo went up to 175 as a Champion, in an effort to enhance his legacy and take on bigger challenges, first as a 160-lb Champion to take on Kovalev (while also a 168-lb Regular Champion), and then the second time as an Undisputed 168-lb Champion. David on the other hand isn't a Champion at 168-lbs, he's a contender. And he's not moving up to 175-lb to challenge himself against tougher competition, like Canelo did when he moved up to 175-lb to challenge proven world champions at that weight. David is moving up to 175 because he admittedly is outgrowing 168-lb and isn't interested in campaigning there any longer. When Canelo moved up to 175-lb, it was directly into a title fight. David fight coming up at 175 isn't for a title. He's merely trying to establish himself at that weight, which of course sends a signal that he's no longer a contender at 168-lb. If his goal was to force the Canelo fight, then all he had to do was stay at 168-lb. He chose to move up to 175-lb, which puts his status at 168 in limbo. Now I've made it clear earlier this year that I wanted to see Canelo fight Benavidez in September. But Benavidez moving up to 175-lb creates a problem. Not only does it mean that he arguably has jeopardized his mandatory status for Canelo to fight him, but it also creates a built-in excuse that David would have to drain himself in order to fight at 168 any longer. Now if they fight at 168, if Canelo wins, he'll get less credit because his haters will say David was drained and all that jazz. Despite this though, I still would want to see the fight made for later this year if David really wants it. Also David's logic to moving up to fight at 175-lb was to put himself into position to take on the winner of Bivol vs Beterbiev. Now due to Beterbiev's injury, that's not going to happen, at least not this year. Who knows if Beterbiev will ever fight Bivol. Benavidez vs Bivol would be interesting, maybe that fight could happen down the road.
Because Canelo fights at 168 and Benavidez fights at 175. Canelo is the unified SMW champion, and Benavidez is contending for the mandatory status at LHW against Gvozdyk. Benavidez is no longer ranked at 168.
The WBC has removed Benavidez from the 168 rankings, so he's done at 168 according to the WBC, and no other sanctioning body ranks Benavidez since he doesn't fight for any org but the WBC.
Benavidez has been in the division for long enough..he's been WBC whatever for long enough. Ball is in Canelos court now. He fights Benavidez or he gets labelled a duck. His choice. Don't deep it because Nelo sure isn't.
That can chop and change, as we have seen previously. Boxing fans want to see Canelo-Benavidez. Perhaps you just aren't a boxing fan?
Have you ever asked yourself why Benavidez signed to fight at 175 a week before he would legally be able to enforce to WBC mandatory status for the WBC SMW title? Benavidez was one week away from having the power to force Canelo to fight him, or get the title taken from him. But instead he willingly relinquished that power for some odd reason. If Benavidez doesn't succeed at 175, he will be forgotten, won't even make it to the HoF.
I'm a bigger boxing fan than you. I'm also realistic and fair in my judgment. I would have liked to see Canelo fight Benavidez, and I hope they don't fight eventually, I believe Canelo is way better than Benavidez and would embarrass him. With that said, Canelo doesn't need to fight him since Benavidez is no longer ranked at 168.
I don't know if this is true, but I heard Benavidez in an interview say that the WBC had decided to give him 10 days following his Light Heavyweight bout to decide which division he would be competing in. Benavidez was complaining about it in a recent interview, it was when he was in Vegas for the Canelo Munguia fight and was asked about it. If this is true, he would still be able to return to the 168-lb rankings and possibly mandatory but if what he said was true he would have to make the decision within 10 days after his fight in June. It sounds like he wouldn't be allowed to be ranked in two weight classes, but from what he was saying the decision isn't final yet.