Canelo Alvarez faces Christian Mbilli in an attempt to reclaim the WBC super-middleweight title later this month, but in the eyes of rival and three-division world champion David Benavidez, the fight is not the entertaining shootout that some anticipate it to be.
Canelo became boxing’s first undisputed super-middleweight world champion when an insane 11-month run culminated with an iconic victory over Caleb Plant in 2021. Then, the Mexican superstar achieved the feat once again, when he outpointed William Scull last year.
The four-division conqueror lost all of his titles to Terence Crawford last September and hasn’t fought since, whilst the retirement of Crawford has meant that each of those belts has since been reassigned to, or claimed by, alternate 168lbers.
One of those beneficiaries was France’s Mbilli, who is also yet to compete since Canelo-Crawford, when he defended his WBC Interim title in a draw against Lester Martinez before being elevated to full champion during the aftermath.
In his first outing as a world champion, Mbilli enters as the underdog but is full of confidence, keen to put an end to the Canelo era and announce himself as the man to beat at super-middleweight.
Yet, when the fight was announced, Benavidez told FightHype that the contest is of no interest to him and that he would rather see Alvarez face Diego Pacheco.
“Nobody wants to see that s**t. Do you guys want to see that? I am not trying to be a d**k but at the end of the day nobody wants to see that s**t, who the f**k is Mbilli?
“I think it would have been better if he fought Diego Pacheco. Diego Pacheco has a way bigger name than Mbilli.”
Canelo-Mbilli takes place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday, October 31, while Pacheco returns to action on Saturday, November 18, when he takes on Darius Fulghum, where he could potentially align himself as Canelo’s Cinco De Mayo opponent.
