Canelo Booed Ringside in Las Vegas as Benavidez Pressure Grows

Cinco de Mayo weekend did not go the way Canelo Alvarez’s camp planned. The pound-for-pound star sat ringside at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday for the Jaime Munguia fight, only for the Las Vegas crowd to rain down loud boos when his face appeared on the jumbotron during a live interview with Jim Gray. Visibly caught off-guard, Canelo glanced up mid-answer as the arena turned on him, a rare moment of hostile reception in a city that has long been his home base.

The timing could not have been worse. Minutes later, David Benavidez knocked out Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez to claim unified cruiserweight titles, and from inside the ring he pointed directly at the section where Canelo had been sitting. “I see Canelo is in the building. Do you guys want to see Canelo versus David Benavidez?” Benavidez asked the crowd, which roared in response.

By then Canelo had already left the arena. Jose Benavidez Sr., David’s father and head trainer, told reporters afterward that Canelo had said before the fight he only planned to stay for Munguia and would not watch the main event. “Thank God he left, because otherwise he would have gotten really scared with that kind of performance,” the trainer said.

Canelo has spent years telling anyone who will listen that Benavidez has not built the name to warrant the fight, and the matchmaking math only gets more complicated as Benavidez climbs in weight. The 35-year-old Mexican star is currently penciled in to face WBC super middleweight champion Christian Mbilli in September. A Benavidez showdown would require a catchweight or Canelo moving up, but public pressure has rarely been this loud.

Canelo, 63-3-2 with 39 knockouts, remains a four-division world champion and the face of boxing’s commercial side. Benavidez, 32-0 with 26 knockouts, is now a three-division world champion who has stopped his last several opponents and is asking for the biggest fight in the sport.

Source: Boxing News 24, Bleacher Report, Yahoo Sports