Whilst the Mexican icon took on the most daunting threats at super-middleweight and light-heavyweight, the constant noise from Benavidez as he sought to challenge boxing’s standout name was almost deafening.

However, the chatter from the Arizona man was not enough to persuade Canelo to accept the many challenges that came his way from Benavidez. 

Ticking over in contests that would fail to enhance his ranking or legacy, Benavidez sported the uniform of a fighter unwilling to risk his shot at the Canelo lottery ticket.

Wins over Ronald Ellis and Kyrone Davis barely registered beyond the most ardent boxing fan, but when 2023 arrived, it abundantly clear that Benavidez had zero chance of enticing Canelo into the ring, and the quest to make his own name began. 

To say Canelo feared or fears Benavidez is wide of the mark and disrespectful to a fighter who took on Floyd Mayweather when he was only 23 years old going in with the pound-for-pound superstar.

After that loss, Canelo would move through the weight classes collecting wins over elite operators such as Miguel Cotto, Gennadiy Golovkin, and Sergey Kovalev. 

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 Intriguing styles make for classic between Benavidez and Zurdo

Watch: Tactical breakdown of both fighters

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Overcoming the most sizeable objects in boxing has never been a problem for Canelo, but there was something about Benavidez he just did not fancy.

Claims he has been disrespected by Benavidez’s strategy of calling him out. Unwilling to face another Mexican despite facing domestic disputes before and of course being on the other side of the street when it comes to television and promoters. 

But maybe the defining factor could be that Canelo could still command sizable purses against lesser opposition rather than taking on the heat possessed by the much younger and hungrier Benavidez. 

Cinco de Mayo belongs to Benavidez

Seeing Canelo take his 168lb titles and defend them against the likes of John Ryder and Jermell Charlo, both excellent fighters, but not Benavidez, was enough to prompt the pride of Phoenix to become one of boxing’s marquee fighters with or without Canelo’s name on his ledger. 

This Saturday night, Benavidez will occupy the coveted Cinco de Mayo headline act in Las Vegas, and he can become cruiserweight world champion in a massive showdown against Gilberto Ramirez.

This rapid development has seen Benavidez pursue quality names for the sport’s grandest titles and his performances over the last three years have saw him become a fixture on the pound-for-pound list, a place where Canelo no longer features after last year’s shattering loss to Terence Crawford. 

After realising his pursuit of Canelo was pointless, Benavidez went about business by taking down the next best names.

Caleb Plant was outpointed. The unbeaten record of Demetrius Andrade was brutally extinguished and then came the ultimate test against well-fancied Cuban, David Morrell, who Benavidez climbed off the floor against to win unanimously on the scorecards in 2025. 

Suddenly, Benavidez had gone from being in Canelo’s shadow to becoming a two-weight world champion whose name was held in the same regard art light-heavyweight as Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev.

A dominant destruction of Anthony Yarde would follow before Benavidez announced his cruiserweight switch against Ramirez on the biggest day on the American boxing calendar. 

Benavidez's gamble pays off

Victory there will bring another world title, and it could also be the platform for a future meeting against Jai Opetaia in what would be the most important cruiserweight battle since Oleksandr Usyk operated there almost eight years.

Beyond that, heavyweight could be an option, a declaration that Benavidez has made in the past, or even a return to 175lbs where Bivol and Beterbeiv still loiter with menacing intent.  

Regardless of direction, Benavidez’s gamble on himself has paid off handsomely when it appeared for stretched periods that a Canelo fight was his only way to mainstream approval.

Speculated for so long, a bout between the pair looked the natural conclusion, but with Benavidez lurking on the brink of another world title, it’s easy to forget that the pair were ever linked at all. 

Benavidez vs. Zurdo on DAZN PPV

Watch David Benavidez versus Gilberto 'Zurdo' Ramirez on DAZN PPV this Saturday, May 2. Buy as a one-off PPV or get it included with the DAZN Ultimate Tier subscription, which also includes the Wardley vs. Dubois (May 9), Usyk vs. Verhoeven (May 23), Fury vs. Hall (June 13) and Zayas vs. Ennis (June 27) PPVs without any extra one-off costs.

For pricing, more information, and to sign up to watch, click here.