David Benavidez’s immediate goal is to get super middleweight rival Caleb Plant into the ring for a title-unification showdown. And his plan is to beat all the top 168-pounders, thus taking control of the division.
He also has a dream opponent, though: Canelo Alvarez.
“One of my dreams … if I win all the belts … the dream match for me would be Canelo [Alvarez],” Benavidez told The PBC Podcast. “But I don’t really speak on that fight too much because everybody is calling out Canelo now. I feel what I got to do now [is] beat everybody. I gotta make the people want that fight. …
“And if the people want that fight, I’m pretty sure it can be made. I feel like it’s maybe three years down in the future, but that’s definitely my main goal. But I still have a lot of great fighters to go through.”
Benavidez (22-0, 19 KOs) regained a version of the 168-pound title by stopping a bloodied Anthony Dirrell in nine rounds this past September.
The 23-year-old Arizonan expects to face No. 1 contender Avni Yildirim next, although nothing is set. And he mentioned British titleholders Callum Smith and Billy Joe Saunders as possible opponents.
What about Plant, with whom Benavidez has developed a contentious relationship on-line and beyond? That’s the one he wants most. And he hopes the fight can be made late this year or early next year.
“I feel like that’s the fight that’s going to define my career and that’s really what I want,” he said. “… This the fight I think about most. … I think about it all day, before I go to sleep. This is something I want. Just so I can prove I’m the best super middleweight in the world.”