I can't call it. I may favor G because he fought and arguably beat Canelo. But Canelo seems to not be too eager to face David. Would be a hell of a fight.
GGG is overrated. Good solid technical fighter with power but nothing special. Benavidez is much faster, and bigger and far more versatile in his offense. He batters GGG until ref stops it.
GGG with a 345-5 amateur record has a much deeper background and more solid toolkit than any opponent Benavidez has ever faced. GGG is also in possession of a cast iron chin, Benavidez isn't going to be grinding GGG down and in his prime Golovkin was a vicious body puncher with a piston jab that hit like a brick. GGG by late stoppage.
If anything, Benavidez is the one thats overrated. He's making waves because of his ability to batter smaller men such as Andrade. He can't do that against someone his own size such as Plant. There's no point in Canelo facing David because he's looking at this from a business standpoint. So far everyone he's fought in recent years has had some kind of benefit relative to where he stood at when taking the fights. They're not just random opponents. For example, Plant = Medium risk/had the belt he needed Bivol = High risk, but high reward (the LHW belt). Risk is mitigated as he had to jump up a class to fight Ryder = Low risk/morale boost fight from Bivol loss GGG = Medium risk/finishing the trilogy Charlo = Low risk/entirely a money fight Munguia = Low risk/mexican opponent Now when we look at David, what upsides are there to fighting him? Nothing. If anything David offers nothing but risks especially considering some of the advantages he has that would trouble Canelo. Now consider how much Canelo is losing if he loses against him. He'd lose some of his fame, legacy becomes questionable (can't claim to be the greatest Mexican if he loses to one) and loses all 4 belts. Thats not worth it just to appease the fans. I don't necessarily blame Canelo for this, but rather just the downsides of being a superstar. At some point if a boxer achieves big success like Canelo does, they'll inevitably begin to become more selective about who they fight to minimize risk. Only a few guys at the top such as Ali and Foreman were wiling to take on just about anyone irregardless of risk. Basically, Canelo is avoiding high risk fights that yield low returns and this is going to continue to be his future.
While I think Canelo is avoiding Benavidez, he’s not a peak GGG. I think Golovkin is overrated but he was still a monster and I think he beats Benavidez by late stoppage. He’s got an iron chin and I think he walks through David. It would be a very tough fight but I don’t think Benavidez would be good enough to withstand a peak Golovkin.
He beat the total crap out of Plant and its a miracle the fight was not stopped thanks to a ref who let plant hold 80 times. Benavidez is no high reward? Lets see. He is by far the most indemand fight for Canelo. It would be the biggest fight in boxing and a monster PPV, so the idea there is no big reward for Canelo is total rubbish. If Canelo ducks David so blatantly it will be a big stain on his record, so that is huge reward enough to fight him. Its Canelos chance to take out a young killer in his prime and prove he is the best in the division. Something he has never done his whole career. I think its a Foreman Ali type of fight to be honest. Fighting and defeating Benavidez offers Canelo a huge reward financially and for legacy. Bivol was viewed and low risk because Canelo was a huge favourite and its a fight nobody cared to see, there was no demand and the only reward was just doing what he had already done, win a belt at 175. As for anyone thinking GGG stops Benavidez, lol, the best fighter GGG ever stopped was David Lemuiex. lol. David is much bigger and faster, he would batter him badly. He grew up sparring him as a kid and knows everything about GGG.
