Inside Canelo Alvarez vs David Benavidez negotiations that saw Mexican superstar reject monster $70m payday
David Benavidez has delved into the details of his failed negotiations with Canelo Alvarez.
'The Mexican Monster' has been trying to secure a fight with Canelo for several years to no avail.
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Benavidez spent over two years as the WBC No.1 contender for Canelo's super middleweight strap.
But after growing tired of waiting for his shot he opted to move up to light heavyweight in June where he defeated Oleksandr Gvozdyk for the WBC 'interim' belt.
He is now the mandatory for the winner of Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol's second four-belt shootout on February 22.
However, Benavidez will have to fend off the wildly underrated David Morrell on February 1 in order to maintain his position.
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Before making the switch to 175lbs, the 28-year-old claims Canelo was offered $70million by Al Haymon's PBC to fight him in May 2024.
But Canelo chose to fight Jaime Munguia instead despite Benavidez's willingness to accept a pitiful purse.
"They offered him $70million to fight me, that is before pay-per-view," Benavidez told .
"You guys can call Luis de Cubas, Al Haymon and ask them that.
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"What Canelo does, he pays the guys flat fees.
"They had offered me $5m and I said 'Cool.'
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"Sampson Lekwicz called us and said before the Jaime Munguia fight 'Hey, would you be willing to fight for a flat fee of $5m?
"'You're not getting any pay-per-view, none of that' and I said 'Yes'.
"We had agreed, we said yes and then we never heard back.
"They were calling the bait out, they thought I was going to say 'No, I'm not going to fight for $5m this fight is worth way more'.
"So I called their bluff and said yes and that is the last we heard about that fight."
Canelo has shown little interest in fighting Benavidez and previously insisted he would need a guaranteed purse of between $150m (£117m) and $200m (£156m) to face him.
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For now, it seems Canelo is focusing his attention on boxing WBA super welterweight champion Terence Crawford.
The boxing titans are reportedly finalising terms for a bout in September at Canelo's natural home of 168lbs.
Despite Crawford agreeing to move up two weights there will be no rehydration clause signed into their contracts.
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