Should Canelo be given credit for fighting at higher weight classes despite his proportions?

When was Benavidez officially his mandatory? I know he was interim but was he ever officially the mandatory? The WBC did not establish Beanvidez as the official mandatory and when they were about to, Benavidez decided against enforcing his mandatory status and he chose to move up to 175. In any other situation that would be seen as the challenger ducking the Champion and running off to another weight class to avoid his toughest fight. And then the guy who was too big for the weight anyway would be accused of trying to "weight bully" the Champion by fighting in a lower weight than he belongs. Since it's Canelo though it's seen through a different prism.

Of course we can't be blind to the fact that Benavidez kept calling him out and Canelo didn't seem to want none of that smoke. But to say "he should have fought him" when he has other actual mandatories to fight which he did, then you understand that Canelo is merely fighting the "more stricter" about mandatories titles like the IBF or the WBO. If you fight twice a year and you have 4 belts but only 2 of them are requiring you to fight your mandatory or be stripped then the decision making is different. Canelo even got stripped of a title for not fighting his "Mandatory" which was a fight that the fans would have criticized him for if he did take it because he wasn't a well known opponent.

 

So Canelo didn't really have the room in his schedule to fight Benavidez and still be able to satisfy all the required mandatories to stay Undisputed. In the end he was stripped of the IBF for not fighting his mandatory, a guy that I personally wanted to see but that many fans didn't really as an opponent for Canelo. Canelo did say he would fight Benavidez if the money was right. Maybe Turki Alalshikh can put up the funds to finally make this fight, but now at 175. Berlanga turned out to be maybe a tougher test and a bigger puncher than the IBF mandatory would have been. It will be interesting to see if Canelo can recapture the 168-lb Undisputed down the road by re-challening for the IBF when he has an opportunity to do so.

 

Canelo is small but he weighs around 180-181lbs on fight night (he admitted this himself). This is a normal weight for a 168.

 

I feel that Benavidez being the interim, had earned the right to fight for Ginger's title. Benavidez, in my opinion, was the toughest challenge or one of the toughest challenges at 168. Ginger should have fought him, in my opinion...

 

Berlanga was laughably made mandatory for beating a cab driver and after Morrell left the division but the fight was never ordered. Mungia was never even mandatory. Both fights were voluntaries.

 

He was officially made mandatory after he beat Plant. This has been confirmed about 100 times its amazing you are still not aware of it. A fighter cannot enforce a mandatory that is a made up thing by Canelo fan boys. The sanctioning body enforces mandatories by ordering fights.

Benavidez only moved up after Canelo choose to fight, Charlo, Mungia and Berlanga instead of him and after saying he would never fight him unless he was paid 200m. The mere suggestion Benavidez avoided Canelo is farcical. You also seem very misinformed on the details regarding this situation so I suggest you do some research.

This content is protected

 

Yes, Berlanga became mandatory after Morrell went up to 175, but he was mandatory. I thought Munguia was also mandatory, but I stand corrected. He was, however, forced to do business with GBP to fulfill his 3 fight contract with PBC.

 

He could have chosen anyone he wanted to fight, including Benavidez. How could Canelo be forced to do anything let alone forced to fight a fighter not even with the PBC? In reality Canelo forced the PBC to drag over a DAZN fighter because he refused to fight in house.

 

Ginger had a 3 fight deal for $100 million with PBC. There was no way Ginger was fighting Benevidez for $33.3 million. That fight is worth way more than $33.3 million. PBC knew that 3 fight deal didn't include Benavidez.

 

None of that is even true again. Canelo ended the 3 fight PBC deal in March 24, when the PBC tried to force Canelo to commit to fighting Benavidez in sept. He then left the PBC temporarily and tried to to back to match room who would not pay enough so he went back to the PBC in single fight deals.

https://www.espn.com/boxing/story/_...lo-alvarez-premier-boxing-champions-part-ways

PBC also offered the same amount TWO years earlier. 55m PLUS PPV and Canelo turned it down.

https://www.boxingnews24.com/2022/0...was-offered-55m-to-fight-him-but-chose-bivol/

 

I could have sworn that I was correct about Ginger fulfilling his 3 fight deal with PBC, but from the link you have provided, it appears that I was wrong. Thank you for the correction!

 

You're misinformed. This has been a source of confusion for quite some time. I'll show you. See this topic :

https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/when-did-benavidez-become-canelos-mandatory.717607/

"Seems we have conflicting views out there. Some people say he just recently became Canelo's mandatory, yet other people say its been this way for 3 years lol. I assume the 3 years thing is people getting it confused over how long Benavidez has wanted to fight Canelo as opposed to being his mandatory, but then maybe I'm on that?"

"I have no idea frankly. This whole situation is confusing."

"That interim WBC title. People assume that it automatically means mandatory spot. It doesn´t."

"According to WBC President he became the mandatory when he beat Plant."

If Benavidez only became mandatory when he beat Plant, then why did he say this?

https://www.badlefthook.com/2023/3/...s-earned-a-fight-with-canelo-boxing-news-2023

Benavidez said after beating Plant :

"I’ve been mandatory for the past two fights."

So in Benavidez mind, he had already been mandatory even before beating Plant. For him to say that and for you to say that he didn't become mandatory until be beat Plant, that means we have a clear contradiction. Benavidez may have been told that he had to beat Plant to become mandatory, he may have felt like he'd been promised mandatory if he won. But he's clearly just talking about things that he wants and is pretending he already has become mandatory in order to put pressure on Canelo.

Apparently this confirmation that Benavidez was the mandatory or was "going to be" the mandatory was from a statement made by the WBC President that was interpreted as if this win meant he was actually mandatory not just something that the WBC Presdient wanted him to be. But actually being that mandatory didn't happen yet.

And we know that didn't happen yet because not too long later it was reported that Benavidez was considering moving up to 175, and then we heard that Benavidez didn't yet sign on to be mandatory, and then we heard that he refused to enforce his "mandatory position".

So what happened here was the word mandatory kept being thrown around by fans, many on this site, as if he was actually the mandatory, in order to criticize Canelo for "not fighting his mandatory". It's mainly a GGG fan coping mechanism who are trying to spin the same story about Canelo avoiding his mandatories and all that.

But the difference is, with Benavidez, he wasn't actually the mandatory. He said he was, the WBC indicated as such, but he never actually was. because if he was, then he wouldn't have had to decide if he wanted to be the mandatory and force Canelo to fight or if he wanted to go to 175. That decision wouldn't have happened if he had already official been the mandatory.

Being the mandatory in the WBC means you have to sign on to be the mandatory and that means you can't do other things like move to a different division.

 

It was 2 years not 4 and Benavidez held an interim belt that would have become a real title eventually. Benavidez is listed at 6 ft 2 he was always going to 175.

Canelo is a big payday and the reward for potentially beating him is huge. Every situation is different. Canelo correctly calculated he could avoid Benavidez and he'd go away and Canelo could keep reigning at 168. Maybe he'll fight Benavidez one day at 175 without risking any hardware.

 

Yes, the most successful short LHW since Griffin and Qawi.

 

Not sure why you are quoting a random person on the forum and Benavidez when they don't decide who is mandatory. The showbizz video I posted had clear evidence of the WBC president saying Benavidez is the mandatory, did you watch the video? Suliman literally says on video "Benavidez is the mandatory for the wbc" So I am not sure where the confusion lays?

I meant he was ranked number 1 contender in the division since the end of 2020. This mandatory stuff is just deflection. Every fight Canelo fought at 168 other than Yildrim was voluntary.