David Morrell has been awfully quiet about Benavidez

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Smith was the only one of them who made it to 12. I think Canelo had a great gameplan for that fight. Punched his bicep off. Those tacos probably had a fair bit to do with it too... Smith is a very good fighter with a lot of power, but he needs his jab to get his offense going. Canelo took that away, much as Crawford took Spence's away by unveiling that power jab.

That whole "I don't fight Mexicans" crap is such a load though. If he fights Munguía, especially without fighting the Davids and the IBF mandatory, I'm on the Canelo is a duck.

I actually think he can beat Benavidez now. But I don't think that's going to last long. Give Benavidez another few top fights, and some of those gaps in his game may close up. Also curious to see who's power and chin will hold up the best. I don't think Benavidez has fought anyone who can really crack and could potentially be as strong as him. Plant isn't a puncher, Andrade is a middleweight, and Lemieux and Dirrell are good wins but not really known for being that strong. Heck, Plant KOed Dirrell. Both Morrell and Canelo would be really good tests for Benavidez. I also think Benavidez should take out Morrell sooner rather than later. There's another one that's just going to get more dangerous with more seasoning.

Benavidez was getting hit a lot, and clean, by Andrade, and it's not like Andrade was doing anything really special to do it, just stepping to Benavidez. But he lacked the power to make Benavidez respect his offense. Canelo hasn't gotten a stoppage since Plant, so he may be slipping in that way, but I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt on that. Benavidez also has a bad habit of falling into punches, especially his jab. That's a really bad habit against a counter puncher, since it magnifies the power of the counter. He doesn't change lanes much either. He'll have a substantial range advantage over Canelo, so he may be able to just keep Canelo off by jabbing as Canelo brings that back foot up. But Canelo's game plan will certainly be to slip and smack him in the arms. If that takes a toll on the offense the way it did on Smith, that may make things easier for Canelo. Or, maybe it fails to work like it failed on Bivol. Lots of question marks.

He got hit clean to the body also a lot. Canelo is a better body puncher than Andrade. Will that slow his offense down? He kinda reminds me of a more skilled version of Joyce in that he depends on taking his opponent's offense on his (static) guard or just tanks shots. He's used to being the bigger guy and the bully. Not sure I've ever seen him be successful off the back foot. So it's also a game of who can push the other back. He's bigger than Canelo and clearly strong. I figure if he really can tank Canelo's offense (and Canelo couldn't even stop a 154lb guy), he's got a very good chance of taking over as Canelo gasses out over the distance. But if Canelo can bank rounds and drain him with body shots and arm shots in the first half and push him back, he may lose on a wide margin.

I kinda think Morrell may actually be a bigger test for him. Morrell can really crack. I think he's likely the hardest puncher at 168, and he's only 1 inch smaller than Benavidez and with 4 more inches of reach. That fight is going to be absolute fire whenever it happens. Whoever wins that is the future king of 168, and probably 175 also.

As big and strong as Smith is, he should have stomped a hole in the little red-headed Mexican's chest. Instead, he looked like a scared, over-sized bitch. The arm punches bothered Bivol, but they didn't stop him from outworking Canelo.

I want to see Benavidez vs Canelo first. Then after he wins his belt back from red, I'd like to see a unification fight vs Morrell. I'm tired of some these fans trying to say that Benavidez is trash and Morrell is the true future king of the division. Let's put it to the test! But first, DB vs Alvarez!