David Benavidez is still waiting for his shot at the undisputed title. In the meantime, however, he has linked up with boxing legend Roy Jones Jr. This comes after he issued a direct challenge to undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez. 

Canelo and Benavidez have long been touted for a fight, but one has yet to materialize. Tired of the long wait with no outcome, Benavidez moved up to the light heavyweight division, looking for glory. Since then, he has defeated Oleksandr Gvozdyk and David Morrell and even clinched the WBC light heavyweight title. Now he waits for the rubber match between Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev to finish. Hopefully, he can get the shot next.

However, he hasn’t forgotten about his old rival Canelo Alvarez. While appearing in the Pound 4 Pound with Kamaru & Henry podcast, Benavidez claimed, “If Canelo fights me today, it’d probably be the biggest fight of his career. That would be the biggest payday he’s ever had.” Currently, Canelo is slated to square off against two-weight undisputed champion Terence Crawford on September 13th.

Despite that, Benavidez dropped a challenge for the Mexican superstar, hoping the 34-year-old would finally give him the fight he has been dreaming of. “If I’m such a bad fighter and you think you can beat me easily, and I’m nobody, then why don’t you come and do it? Earn people’s respect and take home a good paycheck. What’s the problem?” Benavidez said during the podcast. 

As all this was happening, a clip from Fight Hub TV on Instagram showed ‘The Mexican Monster’ training with Roy Jones Jr. alongside Devin Haney. “David Benavidez and Devin Haney in the lab, getting pointers from the legend himself — Roy Jones Jr.,” Fight Hub TV captioned the post.

Jones Jr. was the last undisputed light heavyweight champion of the 20th century and has had a career filled with countless achievements. Nonetheless, as of right now, Benavidez doesn’t have a fight lined up, but there’s one option.

Callum Smith wants the smoke with David Benavidez

Interim WBO light heavyweight champion Callum Smith is not a fighter who backs down from a tough challenge. While both Benavidez and Smith would rather fight for all the belts, Smith has revealed he would be open to squaring off against Benavidez before he hangs up the gloves, which is becoming even more inevitable at 35. 

“If I [were] to retire tomorrow, the one fight that I feel probably should have happened but didn’t was the Benavidez one,” Smith told Boxing Social. Smith has already captured the Ring and WBA titles and recently claimed the interim WBO light heavyweight belt by defeating Joshua Buatsi. But Benavidez seems to be another checkbox Smith wants to tick off.

“He’s a very good fighter,” Smith added. “We were both world champions at the same time down at 168. I like his personality, I think he’s good for boxing, and stylistically, we make a pretty good fight together.”

That said, it’s unlikely that David Benavidez would get an answer to his challenge to Canelo Alvarez anytime soon. And the Bivol-Beterbiev fight has not even been officially announced yet. So, he should keep himself busy with the Smith fight. However, only time will tell whether that happens. Do you think Benavidez vs. Smith is a good bout?