Canelo Alvarez would be taking a lesson from Floyd Mayweather if he decides to fight David Benavidez in 2025

08/28/2024 06:30 AM

There exists a growing school of thought that should in 2025 Canelo Alvarez finally fight David Benavidez, he will do so because of a harsh lesson taught to him by Floyd Mayweather in 2013.

It was that September when they fought in one of Mayweather's biggest fights, and when Mayweather – then the world's finest fighter – recognised that the time was right to inflict the 43-fight Mexican's first defeat.

The 23-year-old Alvarez was, he recognised, a growing, improving and increasingly popular fighter.

He was physically big enough that being asked to fight at a catchweight of 152lbs remained possible but was guaranteed to deplete him, and Mayweather also knew that if they fought at a later date they would have little choice but to agree to a heavier weight – and therefore to give Alvarez a potentially significant advantage.

Mayweather, then 36, proceeded to ease to one of his most memorable victories. If he produced another masterclass in the boxing ring he had also relished the benefits of another calculated display of matchmaking; it was the combination of his natural talent and his matchmaking that ultimately meant that he remained on top.

If the victory over Oscar De La Hoya in 2007 transformed Mayweather into his profession's highest-profile and most powerful figure, it also represented the start of the period in which he fought increasingly on his terms.

His next opponent, Ricky Hatton, had long sought to fight him at Hatton's favoured weight of super-lightweight, but they instead fought when Mayweather was ready and did so at 147lbs, where Hatton had previously struggled.

The victory over the previously undefeated Hatton – via stoppage – was followed in 2009 by Mayweather defeating Juan Manuel Marquez, when having agreed to a catchweight of 144lbs to reflect the fact that Marquez remained a super-featherweight as recently as after Mayweather-Hatton, Mayweather regardless came in two pounds overweight.

The most disciplined of professionals chose to pay a fine of $600,000 to give himself an even greater weight and size advantage; the reality is he needn't have bothered, because Marquez, the most intelligent and technically gifted of fighters, was sluggish at the heavier weight and lost every single round.

When Shane Mosley followed in 2010, he had declined significantly from his once impressive peak but his reputation had been largely restored by his recent stoppage of Antonio Margarito – an opponent who naively played into his strengths.

Mayweather proceeded to defeat the 38-year-old Mosley as convincingly as he had Marquez; despite being considered a dangerous opponent, Mosley had too little left to give.

The victory over the limited Victor Ortiz in 2011 followed Ortiz having defeated Andre Berto and recorded his finest win.

Ortiz was marketed as a physically bigger opponent than Mayweather despite the victory over Berto being his first fight at welterweight. He then proceeded to get stopped, rather controversially, inside four rounds.

Miguel Cotto, similarly, was a declined fighter when he fought Mayweather in 2012, by when the Puerto Rican had established himself at super-welterweight; it was at 147lbs in 2008 when he once represented Mayweather's greatest threat.

By the time he fought Mayweather he had been stopped by Margarito and a career-best Manny Pacquiao. He was also 31 years old, but having recently won his rematch with a dangerously-faded Margarito considered an appealing opponent once again.

Victories over Robert Guerrero, Alvarez, and twice Marcos Maidana followed – only Alvarez was considered dangerous – while Mayweather, similarly, waited for further signs of Pacquiao's decline.

He justified a rematch with Maidana despite earning a clear victory because their first fight was more competitive than anticipated; when in 2015 terms were finally agreed with Pacquiao, the Filipino was 36 years old, had lost to Marquez – memorably – and Timothy Bradley, and in his previous victory over Chris Algieri showed he no longer quite had the intimidating power of his 2009 peak.

"The timing for this fight is right," Mayweather rather appropriately said. "Everything in life is about timing. I have no regrets that this fight didn't take place five years ago."

Had it done so, Mayweather – also then at his peak, as he demonstrated against Marquez and Mosley – would have had to risk his undefeated status against his most dangerous of all opponents.

Five years later Pacquiao posed considerably less of a threat, and Mayweather – as with Hatton, Marquez, Mosley, Cotto and Alvarez – would forever be recorded as having defeated one of his era's very finest names. 

Not unlike applied to Mayweather with Pacquiao, Alvarez – 34 years old, and having fought Gennady Golovkin three times considerably after a fight between them had first been demanded – is said to recognise he won't be forgiven unless he fights Benavidez before he retires.

He first fought his compatriot Jaime Munguia at a time when the pressure to confront Benavidez was at its greatest; Benavidez, big at super-middleweight, responded by moving up to 175lbs.

Edgar Berlanga, his opponent on September 14, represents another less dangerous opponent than Benavidez; if as expected Benavidez fights again at light-heavyweight – similarly to Alvarez's experience against Mayweather – he will have a significant struggle returning to 168lbs if the offer comes to fight Alvarez in 2025.

Algieri, who has since become one of the finest boxing broadcasters, would recognise he was a pawn of sorts within the wider picture of the rivalry that existed between Mayweather and Pacquiao, and he told talkSPORT.com: "Canelo learned a lot from the Mayweather experience, and I say 'experience' because it wasn't just the fight.

“He took away from Mayweather as a fighter – after that fight he became a much more defensive fighter. He took tactics from Mayweather as a boxer.

"But he also took strategy and tactics from Mayweather as a businessman. Being able to control the narrative, for one, and pick the optimal opponents to make the most money possible.

“Also, being able to dictate the terms at which fights occur. Mayweather versus Canelo – there were stipulations in the contract; [for example] there was a catchweight.

"When you're in the driver's seat in the way Mayweather was and the way Canelo is, you can dictate the narrative and you can control the space and how the negotiations work to optimise your ability to win.

“Canelo took a lot from how Mayweather not only fought in the ring, but at the negotiating table, and how he negotiated the media and the press and was able to set the tone and the narrative."