LAS VEGAS – Demetrius Andrade acknowledged the WBC’s mandate and that the winner of his fight with David Benavidez would be a natural next opponent for Canelo Alvarez.

The former middleweight and junior middleweight champion still isn’t convinced that the Mexican superstar would choose Andrade as his next opponent if the Providence-based southpaw pulls off an upset Saturday night. As Andrade learned when he and Alvarez were aligned with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing and DAZN, Alvarez calls his shots and won’t be pressured into a fight he doesn’t want for whatever reason.

“Canelo has the luxury to do whatever he wants to do,” Andrade told BoxingScene.com. “And that’s just it. You can’t make two dogs fight. Hopefully, the reporters and everybody outside of the media pushes for the fight. But yeah, Canelo can do whatever he wants, clearly, as we’ve seen.”

Alvarez infamously dismissed Andrade (32-0, 19 KOs) as a potential opponent during a post-fight press conference in May 2021 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The four-weight world champion had just beaten another southpaw and one of Andrade’s rivals, Billy Joe Saunders, by technical knockout when he belittled Andrade as a “horrible fighter” and told Andrade “you fight with nobody, man.”

The unbeaten Benavidez obviously is somebody in the super middleweight division, the opponent fans most want Alvarez to fight next. Alvarez intends to return to the ring May 4, but he hasn’t mentioned potential opponents.

When asked if beating Benavidez (27-0, 23 KOs) would make him the fighter fans would want Alvarez to box next, Andrade replied, “I would think so. But then he might go from, ‘You fight nobody,’ to, ‘You only fight one person. You just want payday!’ ”

Andrade assured anyone that would discount his chances versus Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KOs) that he would give the IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO super middleweight champion much more trouble than Jermell Charlo. Alvarez dropped Charlo (35-2-1, 19 KOs), then boxing’s undisputed 154-pound champion, in the seventh round and dominated his reluctant challenger on his way to a 12-round, unanimous-decision win September 30 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

“I thought Charlo took the opportunity to get in there and run,” Andrade said. “But again, [Alvarez] has the luxury to do whatever he wants, with any weight class and any fighter that wants the opportunity, even if they don’t have [a chance] of beating him. Canelo will do whatever he wants.”

The 33-year-old Alvarez’s next fight will be the second bout of his three-fight agreement with Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions. Benavidez and Andrade are also affiliated with PBC, which would make either of them more logical opponents for boxing’s biggest star than non-PBC boxers.

Benavidez, 26, and Andrade, 35, will headline Showtime Pay-Per-View’s four-fight telecast from Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino’s Michelob ULTRA Arena.

The WBC revealed during its annual convention last week in Uzbekistan that the Benavidez-Andrade winner will become its mandatory challenger for one of Alvarez’s four titles. Benavidez will defend his WBC interim super middleweight title against Andrade.

BetMGM sportsbook has installed Benavidez as more than a 3-1 favorite to defeat Andrade in the 12-round main event of a show scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT; $74.99).

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.