Benavidez Sr. Accuses Canelo Alvarez Of Turning Boxing Into A “Circus” With Scull And Crawford Bouts

Trainer Jose Benavidez Sr. roasted Canelo Alvarez in an interview for his plans to fight little known William Scull on May 3rd in Riyadh, and then 154-lb belt-holder Terence Crawford on September 13th in Las Vegas.

Benavidez Sr. says the sanctioning bodies should not allow those fights. It just turns the sport into a “Circus.” It annoys Jose Sr. that Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) feels he can do whatever he wants and fight whoever he wants. He gets away with it.

Jose Sr. thinks that Alvarez should have higher standards and focus on fighting the best guys at 168 and 175 rather than taking the circus-level fights late in his career. Floyd Mayweather Jr. did the same thing late in his career. So, perhaps Canelo has learned from him.

“Who is Scull?”

“Scull, what the f*** has he accomplished? Who is Scull? I didn’t even know who Scull is,” said Jose Benavidez Sr. to Fight Hub TV, trashing Canelo Alvarez for his plans to fight the little known IBF super middleweight champion William Scull next on May 3rd in Riyadh.

Jose Sr. isn’t the only one who isn’t familiar with William Scull. A lot of fans have never seen him fight before, and the ones that have weren’t impressed. He was gifted a 12-round unanimous decision over Vladimir Shishkin in Germany on October 19th last year.

“Terence Crawford, come on. He looked really bad in his last fight [WBA 154-lb champion Israil Madrimov]. He’s going up two divisions. Come on, bro. We tried to go up to fight [Oleksandr] Usyk at heavyweight. David isn’t ready to do that yet. I don’t think Crawford is ready to do that, either.”

Crawford is definitely not ready to fight at 168 against a talent like Canelo. Turki should have made the Canelo fight conditional based on Crawford going up 168 and beating two solid fighters. That’s not happened. He’s getting a lot of money for jumping up two divisions from 154 to 168 after a lackluster performance against Israil Madrimov last August. Fans are supposed to view Canelo-Crawford as a must-see, 50-50 matchup, but it’s not. Unless there’s a great undercard for this event, a lot of fans will choose not to order it.

“So, I see an easy two fights for him [Canelo in 2025], and that’s what they want. The people allow that, and the organizations allow that. So, he’s going to continue doing that. Why not? As he says, he can do whatever he wants, and he’s doing whatever he wants,” said Benavidez Sr.

There’s no way that the sanctioning bodies or the commissions could stop Canelo from fighting Crawford. The titles aren’t important for that fight. It’s about money and mindless, junk food entertainment. Only hardcore fans care about the titles. This is just Canelo fighting Crawford in a boxer vs. a puncher type of match. Crawford isn’t well-known by casual fans and is not a big attraction with hardcore fans due to his weak resume.  His fighting style hasn’t been entertaining enough for him to have broader appeal the way Canelo has.

Boxing’s Decline?

“Boxing has turned into something not that good. Before, we used to have the Fernando Vargas fighting Sugar Shane Mosley, fighting Oscar De La Hoya, Julio Cesar Chavez, all these fighters, fighting all these good fights. But at this point right now, the only one that is fighting everybody is David Benavidez, challenge after challenge,” said Jose Sr.

The sport has been going the circus route since Floyd Mayweather Jr. started the trend back in 2018 when he fought 0-0 novice Conor McGregor in a Nevada Commission-sanctioned professional fight to break Rocky Marciano’s record. From there, the circus has continued with YouTubers entertaining the sport and Francis Ngannou fighting Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.

Canelo is choosing to defend his unified super middleweight titles against former 154-lb champion Jermell Charlo and is now expected to face Terence Crawford in September. Even if the fight were not allowed to happen in Nevada, Canelo could find a state or a country that would sanction it.

“When he was going to fight Caleb Plant, they said Caleb was going to make him look bad. Boo Boo was going to take him to school and make him look ridiculous. David Morrell from the great school of Cuba. Those fighters you only see every 30 years, and look what happened. Those are the kinds of fights that people want to see,” said Jose Sr.

“Here, they’re doing a circus, and Canelo does whatever he wants. Good for him. The organizers allow that. It doesn’t matter what people say. They’re still going to do it,” said Benavidez Sr.