NO CANELO BENAVIDEZ In September – Sampson Lewkowicz, Benavidez’s Promoter, Confirms Plans Shift To Securing David Morrell Fight
– Sampson Lewkowicz Has Confirmed That Canelo Alvarez Will Not Face David Benavidez In September
– Canelo vs Benavidez Is Off The Table But Canelo Is Still A Free Agent For His Next Fight
– Benavidez Will Instead Face David Morrell In October As Originally Planned
Sampson Lewkowicz, the promoter of the former two-time WBC Super Middleweight champion and current interim world champion David Benavidez, has confirmed to BOXEO DE COLOMBIA that his charge will not be facing Canelo Alvarez in September.
Alvarez is boxing’s biggest star and has long been considered the face of the sport. Still, the gap is narrowing with significant competition from the likes of Tyson Fury in the UK and Gervonta Davis stateside.
With Tank Davis-Ryan Garcia earlier this year and the long-awaited undisputed welterweight championship fight between Errol Spence Jr and Terence Crawford confirmed, fight fans felt that Canelo needed a bout that would capture the interest of the public in the way that his first two fights with Golovkin did to reaffirm his position as boxing’s bona fide star.
Canelo vs Benavidez has long been considered that fight for Canelo with optimists believing it can deliver over one million pay-per-view buys. Alvarez’s biggest success since his two Golovkin fights was the trilogy last year that produced a 22m gate and around 850,000 buys stateside according to promoter Eddie Hearn.
Lewckowicz offered Canelo in the region of $40m guaranteed to face Benavidez in September with the potential for the purse to grow to $50m with upside, according to Chris Mannix. The deal is less money than he was offered last year to face Benavidez and is thought to be less money guaranteed per fight than his last two-fight deal with Matchroom/DAZN.
Benavidez’s promoter has confirmed that the focus has now shifted to facing WBA (Regular) champion David Morrell in October. The bout is expected to be Benavidez’s second appearance on pay-per-view. Lewkowicz revealed that Benavidez’s clash with Morrell was already signed prior to the Canelo offer.
The Uruguayan-American promoter believes that Benavidez-Morrell can outsell Canelo’s next fight due to the Mexican star’s refusal to face Benavidez in Sept. He also reaffirmed that Canelo is still a free agent and not signed with Eddie Hearn. Hearn, who has hosted seven of Canelo’s last eight fights, is the preferred promoter for Canelo in his own words and he plans to work with Hearn until the end of his career.
The focus for Canelo is likely now on his rematch with Dmitry Bivol, a fight that was at the forefront of his priorities for September anyway. Bivol is considered a tougher fight for Canelo than Bevaidez and a smaller one, Canelo will receive lots of credit for going into the rematch, despite disappointment that the ‘fan-favourite’ fight with Benavidez isn’t next.
