David Benavidez 'ducking' makes zero sense
In boxing, your reputation can turn on a dime, and for David Benavidez, this past week has been a doozy.
After BoxingScene erroneously reported that Benavidez turned down a fight against former IBF cruiserweight champion and current Ring Magazine belt champion Jai Opetaia because he was waiting on a fight with Canelo Alvarez, most of the social media responses have been to accuse Benavidez of ducking a match with Opetaia.
I call the report erroneous because no one who has been paying attention thinks that Benavidez is still waiting on Canelo Alvarez in 2026.
Canelo has avoided a fight with Benavidez for years and has said multiple times that he will never fight the Mexican Monster. So for Benavidez to put a fight on hold to wait for Canelo would mean that he has been willfully ignoring what his nemesis has been saying for years.
But in boxing, as you climb the ladder, the more favorites you beat, the more people have to eat their words, and the more narratives like this start to stick.
Canelo, after all, is still one of the most popular boxers in the world, and the idea that Canelo, not Benavidez, is the one ducking fights may not sit well with some.
This past week, former unified light heavyweight champion Artur Berterbiev called out Benavidez, saying that he ducked a match with him as well. So Benavidez, one of the most avoided fighters in the world, is now supposedly ducking Jai Opetaia at cruiserweight and Artur Beterbiev at light heavyweight.
Which brings up a couple of interesting questions.
What exactly is a duck? Is Benavidez ducking tough fights?
When discussing anything, it's always helpful to define terms. So to find out whether David Benavidez is a duck, we should first discuss what exactly that term means.
A duck is a fighter who has a reputation for avoiding tough fights, instead choosing to take matches against opponents that are either too small or not skilled enough to give them any real trouble.
Based on that definition, nothing about how David Benavidez has moved in his career suggests to me that he's scared of anybody.
Throughout his career, he has fought at super middleweight, light heavyweight, and cruiserweight
While Artur Beterbiev says he has been trying to get a fight with Benavidez since his victory over Anthony Yarde last November, Benavidez's father, Jose Benavidez Sr., says he and his son tried to fight Beterbiev before the Yarde fight and haven't heard anything from Beterbiev since.
Beterbiev was even supposed to fight on the Benavidez vs. Yarde undercard, potentially setting up a match between him and David down the road, but he pulled out before he stepped in the ring.
Not only that, but Beterbiev hasn't fought anyone since he lost to Dmitry Bivol in February 2025.
Regardless, according to Jose, "Nothing happened, but we still want to fight him. We're here to fight anybody. If Beterbiev is ready, let's make it happen."
While Beterbiev claims Benavidez is avoiding him, Benavidez has beaten Yarde, moved up in weight to cruiserweight and beaten a unified champion and is now looking to pick up a third belt by beating the current WBC cruiserweight champ who was just ordered to defend his title against Benavidez.
That doesn't sound like a duck to me. If current WBC champ Noel Mikaelian drops his belt in order to face Jai Opetaia instead of Benavides, like some expect him to do, that would be a duck.
For me, ducking comes down to fear, and nothing Benavidez has demonstrated during his ascension over the past couple of years suggests he's afraid of anything.
But reality very rarely gets in the way of a good narrative, so he may have to live with that label for a little while.
However, the great thing about boxing is that Benavidez will eventually fight Jai Opetaia. And he is eventually going to fight Berterbiev (maybe, since Berterbiev is over 40 and hasn't fought anyone in nearly 18 months). And eventually, he will probably also face Dmitry Bivol. But he is going to do it on his own time since he is in the driver's seat.
I believe Benavidez is pound-for-pound the best fighter in the world (he's currently ranked 5th by The Ring magazine), and he will have plenty of opportunities to prove that status in the ring.
In the meantime, he's going to have to take these slings until he climbs back in the ring and shows the world once again why they call him the Mexican Monster.
Then his detractors will have to come up with a new narrative and see what sticks then.
Related: David Benavidez, WBC outmaneuver Zuffa for world title fight
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This story was originally published June 7, 2026 at 1:04 PM.