“No,” said promoter Sampson Lewkowicz, when asked if his fighter David Benavidez would get the Canelo Alvarez fight in 2024.
Speaking exclusively to ProBox TV, Lewkowicz said there was almost no chance that his super-middleweight star would land boxing’s most-lucrative fight in either May or September this year and, as a consequence, the promoter thinks Canelo’s legacy will be tarnished.
“Canelo Alvarez will make his legacy and his legacy will be stained, because he did not fight the best at this time which is Benavidez,” Lewkowicz argued. “I think the children, maybe the grandchildren one day, will ask him why he did not fight Benavidez, because he [Canelo] says he wants the best fights, but that’s the best fight. Now he says he’s going to fight an American [in Las Vegas on May 4], at one moment in the contract it was [Jermall] Charlo, now we don’t know who the American might be.
“We have an idea of who it might be, but since I’m not involved in those negotiations I can’t say who it is because I don’t know, but I do know that Canelo’s legacy will be tarnished.”
For Lewkowicz, Canelo should be fighting the leading available contenders and the best opponents. The promoter reckons Canelo will get more respect out of boxing elite challengers, regardless of the outcome of a particular contest.
“Now if he fights [Benavidez], it doesn't matter if he wins or loses, the legacy of him is going to be the best for me in the history of Mexican boxing because he went to fight the best like [Julio Cesar] Chavez [Snr.], like Juan Manuel Marquez did, like [Marco Antonio] Barrera did, like so many top boxers did, that have achieved glory,” Lewkowicz went on.
Lewkowicz also said an attractive fight with Mexican Jaime Munguia is unlikely. There have been previous efforts to make that match.
"I already tried once to put him with Jaime Munguia, we turned the spoon many times and it was not achieved, so now I think that, if he [Canelo] does not fight with a Mexican, the most ideal fight would be with Munguia,” said Lewkowicz. “There is no excuse for not taking that fight…. It would be very easy to make that fight because PBC… it allows me as a promoter to put my boxers with other televised networks because it was the first agreement I made with Al Haymon and he accepted it. Look at Sebastian Fundora’s sister, Gabriela Fundora. She is with Golden Boy and Sebastian Fundora is with PBC. In short, I did business with Edwin De Los Santos and Top Rank, I do business with everyone for the good of the boxer, not only for myself, but also to give the fans the opportunity to see the best fights.”
