Regis Prograis feels that Canelo Alvarez can still whoop David Benavidez if the two fight, but that could change over time. Regis was impressed with what he saw of Benavidez last Saturday night with his sixth round stoppage win over Demetrius Andrade in Las Vegas.
It won’t make Benavidez happy to hear Prograis picking Canelo to beat him because he feels he would win, and he’s been so focused on getting his way and achieving his goal of fighting the superstar that he’s not considering what he wants.
Benavidez and his dad, Jose Sr., have been beyond pushy, trying to get a fight with Canelo. He’s got to stop being so overbearing in pursuit of a fight with Alvarez.
Benavidez wants to face the mega-star Canelo to increase his status and take his career to the next level, but he’s doing it in a way that’s not taking Alvarez’s feelings into consideration.
The WBC light welterweight champion Prograis felt that the 6’2″ Benavidez was “too big and too strong” for the 35-year-old Andrade. Benavidez’s size gave him an advantage over Andrade, who didn’t look like he was in the same weight class.
Prograis thinks that as Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs) gains more experience, he could beat Canelo. The 26-year-old Benavidez and his dad, Jose Sr., don’t want to wait any longer because they want the 33-year-old Canelo now.
Given Canelo’s age and long 18-year professional career, he’s not going to be around much longer. Benavidez should probably stop pushing for the fight and focus on his career.
David Benavidez was too big for Andrade
“Benavidez surprised me. I thought it was going to be a close fight, but Benavidez went out there and destroyed Boo Boo,” said Regis Prograis to Fighthype when asked about his view on last Saturday’s fight between David Benavidez and Demetrius Andrade.
That fight could have been more competitive if it had occurred five to seven years ago when Andrade was younger and more active with his career. But in the last four or five years, he’s aged, and he’s rarely fought. When Andrade has fought, it’s been against weak opposition due to the top guys at 154 and 160 not wanting to fight him.
“I thought Boo Boo was going to do better than that, but right now, Benavidez looks like a man against boys,” said Prograis. “He’s too big; he’s too strong. That’s all. He’s beating these guys down too easily.”
If you saw Andrade’s debut at 168 against journeyman Demond Nicholson last January, it was obvious that he was going to have massive problems against Benavidez because he was too small & old for the weight class.
Nicholson dropped Andrade, and gave him a lot of trouble, and that’s a fighter that Edgar Berlanga knocked down three times in 2021.
Out of all the fighters that have wanted to fight Canelo in the past, Benavidez has pushed the hardest for the longest period. Not even Gennadiy Golovkin was as insistent as Benavidez in pestering Canelo for a fight.
Canelo vs. Benavidez = super fight
“His size. They’re the same weight [at the weigh-in], but his size is too much for these guys right now, and right now, it’s man vs. boys,” said Prograis.
Regis had to have meant that Benavidez was the same size as Andrade at the weigh-in because he looked a lot bigger inside the ring on fight night.
It’ll be interesting to see how well Benavidez does when he moves up to 175 like his father Jose Sr. keeps talking about him doing if he doesn’t get the Canelo fight.
That’s a super fight,” said Prograis about a fight between Canelo Alvarez and David Benavidez. “I actually texted Benavidez. I told him, ‘I hope you get that Canelo fight. Right now, I’ll still give it to Canelo just because you can never go away from Canelo. He’s a Hall of Famer.
“In my opinion, Canelo is the best Mexican fighter in history. I know we have Julio Cesar Chavez, but if you look at Canelo’s resume, it’s crazy. He’s done so much in the sport already, and he is just so good.
“So for me, I would still go with Canelo right now, but as time goes on, and if Benavidez keeps getting experience under his belt, I might have to lean more toward Benavidez, but right now, I lean more towards Canelo because he did have the better competition,” said Prograis.
