Canelo offered world title fight

Saul Canelo Alvarez has been handed a lifeline from one of his biggest boxing rivals, David Benavidez, who has offered the Mexican a world title shot.

The 35-year-old from Guadalajara conceded his undisputed super-middleweight championships to history-maker Terence Crawford on September 13, who became crowned the first three-weight undisputed ruler in a four-belt era, live on Netflix.

It was Canelo's third defeat in his 68-fight career, which has seen him win world titles in four weight classes.

Trained by Eddy Reynoso, Canelo has a further three fights left on his multi-million deal with Riyadh Season, causing many to wonder just who his next foe could be.

Unbeaten Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) has been left frustrated at the disappointment of not fighting Canelo at 168lbs, causing 'The Monster' to move up to light-heavyweight to become a world champion there instead.

The 28-year-old won the WBC Interim world light-heavyweight title in 2023 and has defended it twice to now be crowned the full world champion after Dmitry Bivol vacated.

Benavidez offered Canelo the chance to fight for his green and gold belt, “I feel like everything that’s happening in my career, I’m in a great position in every single way. I wasn’t going to go down to 168, but now if Canelo wants to come up then come, I got the WBC world title at 175.

“After I beat Bivol I’m going to have all the belts, so after that happens, now I’m the one that has the power, now I’m the one. Canelo says he doesn’t fight for greatness, he fights for titles. Well let me go pick up all the titles and let’s come back to the table and talk.”

Benavidez first defends his WBC 175lbs title to hard-hitting Briton Anthony Yarde (27-3, 24 KOs) in Saudi Arabia on November 22.