It is very difficult to make comparisons between athletes from different eras. That is a free passage to polemic. And boxing is no exception. Recently, among Mexican fighters, a comparison between Canelo Alvarez and the legendary Julio Cesar Chavez has been discussed.
For much of the Mexican and international boxing community, Julio Cesar is the greatest Aztec fighter of all time. He was undefeated in 90 fights, fought 37 world championship fights and won titles in 3 different divisions: Super featherweight, Lightweight and Super lightweight.
For his part, Canelo Alvarez lost his undefeated record long before Chavez, but in 17 years of career he has won world titles in 4 different divisions, all unusual for a Mexican fighter (usually fierce but in lower weight divisions), and in 2021 he became the first fighter in history to unify the 168-pound titles.
Canelo will never be like Julio Cesar Chavez, according to Benavidez Sr.
The story of Saul Canelo Alvarez and David Benavidez is not exactly one of the utmost respect. The two-time World Super middleweight champion has sought to face the Mexican on many occasions to challenge him for his WBC 168-pound belt, which he lost a couple of times, both times outside the ring.
Given Canelo Alvarez's refusal, the trash talk from Benavidez and his team, headed by his father, has not been long in coming. And in another episode of this story, Benavidez Sr. threw a dart at Canelo in which he points out that his "rule" of not fighting Mexicans makes it impossible for him to be like his legendary compatriot Julio Cesar Chavez.
"I’ve never in my life heard a champion (say that he would not face countrymen)… He’ll never be like Julio Cesar Chavez ‘cause Julio Cesar Chavez fought black, Mexican, Puerto Ricans, anybody. And this guy is saying that he would not fight any Mexicans. And now he’s saying that if ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez beats Bivol he’s not going to fight him, he’s not going to fight Mexicans. To me I don’t have any respect for this guy. Champions fight anybody. That (nationality) doesn’t matter.”, stated Benavidez Sr. to Fight Hub TV.
Meanwhile, Canelo Alvarez does not seem to have David Benavidez on his radar, because in case he beats Gennadiy Golovkin, his sights would be set on a rematch against Dmitry Bivol, if the Russian is able to defeat Mexican Gilberto 'Zurdo' Ramirez next November.
