David Benavidez preparing for talented veteran Oleksandr Gvozdyk with the specter of Canelo Alvarez looming large

David Benavidez will face Oleksandr Gvozdyk for the interim WBC light heavyweight championship on Saturday in the 100th boxing card staged at the MGM Grand Garden. In truth, though, Benavidez will really be fighting Canelo Alvarez.

Alvarez, of course, is the undisputed super middleweight champion and future Hall of Famer known for his ability to take on all comers and challenges. He has been strangely reluctant to fight Benavidez, whose promoter, Samson Lewkowicz, was very public earlier in the year with multi-million dollar offers to Alvarez.

In no way does it make sense that Alvarez is flat-out ducking Benavidez. That's not who the man is. He's taken all comers for as long as anyone can remember, and he's one of the best fighters in the world. He's also one of the shrewdest businessmen in boxing, and he has to know that the two richest fights for him are those against Benavidez and undisputed welterweight champion Terence Crawford.

Both of those fights for Alvarez would figure to sell a million or more on pay-per-view in the U.S., provided they were held in the U.S. at a time conducive to PPV sales. For all the great things that the General Entertainment Authority in Saudi Arabia has done for the sport, and they are legion, it is shrinking the PPV sales in the U.S. because the fights are on in the U.S. in the middle of a Saturday afternoon.

Alvarez, though, knows that a bout versus Benavidez is going to be a mega-rich bout, and that's the kind of fight he's regularly sought. His silence on the matter is odd, though he did reference Benavidez's size as being an issue for him.

And while Benavidez may well have a 15-pound or more weight advantage on fight night, that hasn't stopped Alvarez before.

Benavidez got tired of waiting for Alvarez and took the bout with Gvozdyk, a one-time elite heavyweight who is a question mark now because of inactivity. Gvozdyk was 17-0 and on some pound-for-pound lists heading into a unification bout with Artur Beterbiev on Oct. 18, 2019. Beterbiev pummeled Gvozdyk and forced a 10th-round stoppage, dropping him three times.

Gvozdyk briefly retired after that, only to return in 2023 against three lesser opponents. He's a skilled and talented fighter at his best, but it's impossible to know how much of that past greatness he still possesses. But if he does, Benavidez finds himself in a pickle. If he looks past Gvozdyk, it could spell disaster, and potentially end any hope of fighting Alvarez.

“I have a lot of experience and I have something to show him," Gvozdyk said. "It’s going to be an exciting fight that you don’t want to miss."

There are some who say that Benavidez can't afford to look too good, though. That, however, is a direct jab at Alvarez and an insinuation he's somehow afraid. And if we know one thing about Alvarez, it's that he's not afraid and that he has a healthy ego and believes he can beat anyone.

Benavidez's goal has to be to go out and put on the kind of performance that makes the public demand Alvarez fight him. Benavidez is one of the elite talents in the world -- he's 12th on the pound-for-pound list at KevinIole.com -- but he still hasn't gotten the kind of public notoriety that Alvarez or Gervonta Davis, who faces Frank Martin in the main event Saturday, have received.

Benavidez is a smart guy, though, and he understands the task in front of him. Alvarez doesn't really have a logical challenger now. He could fight Edgar Berlanga, and Matchroom is pushing that, but Berlanga has almost zero chance to beat Alvarez. The public wouldn't buy him as an opponent and a pay-per-view on that fight would not be great.

So Benavidez just has to fight well and say the right things, as he's been doing.

“My plan is to conquer the light heavyweight and super middleweight divisions," Benavidez said. "Whoever comes to the plate, they can get it. I’m ready to fight whoever and beat whoever."

At DraftKings sports book, Benavidez is a whopping -650 favorite to win, with Gvozdyk at +450. Benavidez is nearly a 2-1 favorite (-190) to win by KO. Expectations are high for him, and that's good. He needs to fight with that pressure to prove he's ready to take that next step and face the elite of the elite.

I believe in him. I believe he's a special talent and, in the right frame of mind with the proper motivation, one of the handful of the greatest fighters in the world.

Most importantly, though, let's hope Canelo Alvarez believes it. Then, and only then, we might have something.