David Benavidez fully intends to sign an appeal letter keeping him positioned as Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s WBC super middleweight mandatory challenger, his father-trainer, Jose Benavidez Sr., told BoxingScene on Monday.
“Already been talked about, ready to go,” Benavidez Sr. said of the letter.
Furthermore, a recent medical examination of Benavidez’s right arm and left hand injuries concluded that a two-week period of rest and rehabilitation should clear him to safely resume training activities.
“If that happens, we will have eight weeks to train for Canelo. We can be ready for September,” Benavidez’s promoter, Sampson Lewkowicz, told BoxingScene on Monday night in reference to Alvarez’s past interest in fighting on the Saturday night of Mexican Independence Day weekend, which this year would fall on Sept. 14.
Benavidez, 27, posted a unanimous decision triumph over former light heavyweight titleholder Oleksandr Gvozdyk on Saturday night at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
By winning the WBC’s interim lightweight belt, Benavidez, of Phoenix, confronts a 10-day deadline to inform the WBC whether he wants to retain the interim belt and stay positioned to fight the winner of the Oct. 12 undisputed light heavyweight bout between three-belt champion Artur Beterbiev and WBA champion Dmitry Bivol or if he wants to remain the mandatory challenger to Mexico’s undisputed Alvarez.
Lewkowicz said he crafted the letter to the WBC for Benavidez to remain as the super middleweight mandatory, and the fighter’s father said his son is prepared to sign it.
Benavidez has been the WBC’s No. 1 contender to Alvarez for more than two years, and his mandatory since 2023.
Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs), who will turn 34 next month, has delayed taking the Benavidez fight and said it would require $150 million to $200 million in purse money for him to accept the bout.
For now, Alvarez also confronts the first-in-line mandatory of IBF contender William Scull of Cuba and the WBA’s recently elevated mandatory, power-puncher Edgar Berlanga of Brooklyn, New York.
As the first 168-pound undisputed champion of the four-belt era, Alvarez has successfully defended the titles four times – a record run.
Yet Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) is the consensus most qualified contender, after once wearing the WBC belt and posting recent victories over former middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade by TKO and Gvozdyk, accomplished despite the injuries (right arm ligament, left hand swelling and cut over the eye) he experienced during the final 4½ weeks of training.
“I was very distressed going into that fight,” Benavdez Sr. said. “That was the worst camp we’ve ever had.
All my respect to David [in the Gvozdyk victory]. He went in there like a warrior, used his head, and everything worked out good.”
Lewkowicz agrees with his fighter’s decision to remain Alvarez’s mandatory, because Beterbiev and Bivol aren’t fighting until Oct. 12 and those fighters could stage a rematch in 2025, further delaying Benavidez’s opportunity to win a world title.
Lewkowicz said the appeal letter to the WBC could be sent as quickly as Tuesday.
In an interview with BoxingScene on Friday, WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman said he is proud to have Alvarez and Benavidez as champions, and honoring that is a matter of figuring out the best way so that both can be hailed in the rightful way.
“That’s exactly it,” Sulaiman said. “Throughout history, the WBC has been fundamental in helping to build legendary fights. Big fights have to take place at the right time, under the correct circumstances.”
As the sport’s most popular draw, Alvarez still retains so much power.
He could choose one of the other mandatories, wait for a showdown that Saudi Arabia’s Turki Alalshikh has mentioned against two-division undisputed champion Terence Crawford or select whomever he pleases.
Lewkowicz argues that amid the public’s clamor for Alvarez-Benavidez, it’s time for Alvarez and the WBC “to s*** or get off the pot.”
Sulaiman said once he is informed by the Benavidez camp, “we will make our decision.
“If you try to ruin by popularity, you are ruined,” Sulaiman said. “The most important thing is what is fair and just. What is popular for the fans of Canelo and Benavidez and the sport are different scenarios. We try to handle the balls we juggle [and we have been through it before] many, many times.”
Benavidez Sr. said the doctor’s recent evaluation confirms “that if Canelo wants to fight in September, we’ll be ready to fight. It can definitely be done.
“I hope that fight gets made. Or if [the WBC] takes the belt, then we’ll fight our mandatory.”
A fitting decision if there ever was one.
