Does Andre Ward sound like a hater? "Canelo's Refusal to Fight Benavidez Would Taint His Legacy"

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Former two-weight world champion and Hall of Famer Andre Ward believes that Saul “Canelo” Alvarez risks damaging his legacy if he refuses to eventually face David Benavidez.

Discussions between Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KOs) and Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs) have not been successful thus far. The fighters have been unable to agree on a deal for a lucrative match in recent months, and Alvarez recently moved on to a new opponent altogether. Benavidez, Alvarez’s longtime WBC mandatory, has been yearning for an opportunity to face the undisputed champion at 168 pounds.

On Friday, Alvarez confirmed that the opponent for his traditional Cinco de Mayo fight date would be Jaime Munguia. Alvarez will defend his undisputed 168-pound championship against Munguia (43-0, 34 KOs) on May 4 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Speaking to The Breakfast Club, Ward spoke about Alvarez’s reluctance to fight Benavidez, saying a failure to meet him in the ring would be viewed by fans as a strike against Canelo’s legacy.

“Absolutely,” Ward said. “Canelo fans regularly call me a hater, but I am telling the truth.”

Ward questioned the legitimacy of Alvarez’s resume, criticizing the timing of certain fights and the ages of certain opponents at the time of their fights with Alvarez.

“When he fought Kovalev, Kovalev was cooked. He wasn’t ‘The Krusher.’ He wasn’t the undefeated guy. He had lost that. I’m not knocking the hustle, but you lose me when you start saying, ‘I’m the best fighter in the world.’

Ward admitted that Alvarez needn’t take on a top opponent in every fight. But he said he hasn’t done enough to regularly challenge himself in order to claim status as the best boxing has to offer.

“You lose me when you don’t fight the best but you say everybody else has got to fight the best,” Ward said. “Canelo is a really good fighter, but you don’t know how good you are until you fight the other best.”
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link: https://www.boxingscene.com/forums/...sal-to-fight-benavidez-would-taint-his-legacy

IMO Ward sounds like a hater. Benavidez and Canelo should fight each other at some point, but it's not a do-or-die for legacy. Canelo did fight Bivol, after all.
 
tying up the belts with junk fights, of course it affects his legacy, one of the more shameful ducks of recent years
 
but are we seriously questioning canelo's legacy here?

i have to admit i haven't really been a fan of his since the GGG drama with the PEDs and the horseshit draw decision, but just look at his resume, for fuck's sake. his legacy, as far as scalps go, is already fantastic.

world champ at 154. beat elite boxers in mosley, trout, lara, had some fun fights like the shootout with kirkland and the beatdown he put on angulo, lost only to floyd.

world champ at MW, took the belt from cotto in a great fight, dragged his feet for a while but eventually did fight GGG, then beat jacobs when he was the clear #3 in the division.

world champ at LHW, knocking kovalev the fuck out.

unified all the belts at SMW, beat the absolute piss out of callum smith, broke BJS's stupid face and sent him into retirement, knocked out plant in spectacular fashion.

and to top it all off, he moved up to 175 once again to try and fail against bivol. there's no shame in losing to dmitry, and i can respect canelo for trying for greatness.

yes, he absolutely should be fighting benavidez instead of munguia, and i'm perfectly fine with everyone saying he's ducking him. but to say it damages his legacy is silly. his legacy is rock fucking solid.
 
randomg1t said:
but are we seriously questioning canelo's legacy here?

i have to admit i haven't really been a fan of his since the GGG drama with the PEDs and the horseshit draw decision, but just look at his resume, for fuck's sake. his legacy, as far as scalps go, is already fantastic.

world champ at 154. beat elite boxers in mosley, trout, lara, had some fun fights like the shootout with kirkland and the beatdown he put on angulo, lost only to floyd.

world champ at MW, took the belt from cotto in a great fight, dragged his feet for a while but eventually did fight GGG, then beat jacobs when he was the clear #3 in the division.

world champ at LHW, knocking kovalev the fuck out.

unified all the belts at SMW, beat the absolute piss out of callum smith, broke BJS's stupid face and sent him into retirement, knocked out plant in spectacular fashion.

and to top it all off, he moved up to 175 once again to try and fail against bivol. there's no shame in losing to dmitry, and i can respect canelo for trying for greatness.

yes, he absolutely should be fighting benavidez instead of munguia, and i'm perfectly fine with everyone saying he's ducking him. but to say it damages his legacy is silly. his legacy is rock fucking solid.
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He has a great resume but this does taint his legacy a bit just as SRR's was tainted when he ducked Burley. That said Canelo is still a 1st ballot Hall of Famer and one of the best fighters of his generation. SRR is still generally regarded as the finest boxer to ever live.
 
toogreen said:
hes just mad canelo legacy vastly overshadows his
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Ward went out on top and undefeated. Never ducked anyone. He was officially rated P4P No. 1 when he retired. Even if you think he lost the first Kov fight lots of other great fighters have controversial wins with asterisks next to them.
 
Ward retired ages before he fought his toughest competition, he was awarded a gift win vs Kov in their first fight and when he fought a shadow of the same guy and won the rematch he fucking ran, it could be him fighting Benavides a few years back, and canelo, and bivol and biev. But nah. Better to retire and be racist over zoom on ESPN

He is right by the way, not denying that. I just don’t wanna hear it from that dude, it’s like Hitler telling America not to vote for trump because he is racist. I mean, sure you got a point maybe but… stfu?
 
randomg1t said:
but are we seriously questioning canelo's legacy here?

i have to admit i haven't really been a fan of his since the GGG drama with the PEDs and the horseshit draw decision, but just look at his resume, for fuck's sake. his legacy, as far as scalps go, is already fantastic.

world champ at 154. beat elite boxers in mosley, trout, lara, had some fun fights like the shootout with kirkland and the beatdown he put on angulo, lost only to floyd.

world champ at MW, took the belt from cotto in a great fight, dragged his feet for a while but eventually did fight GGG, then beat jacobs when he was the clear #3 in the division.

world champ at LHW, knocking kovalev the fuck out.

unified all the belts at SMW, beat the absolute piss out of callum smith, broke BJS's stupid face and sent him into retirement, knocked out plant in spectacular fashion.

and to top it all off, he moved up to 175 once again to try and fail against bivol. there's no shame in losing to dmitry, and i can respect canelo for trying for greatness.

yes, he absolutely should be fighting benavidez instead of munguia, and i'm perfectly fine with everyone saying he's ducking him. but to say it damages his legacy is silly. his legacy is rock fucking solid.
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It's like the old saying goes, you can build 1000 bridges but if you screw just one goat, they don't call you a bridge builder.

A duck is a duck. It hurts his legacy - it doesn't erase it, but it hurts it.
 
A lot of his wins weren't very decisive. He for some reason gets praised for using steroids and making up excuses for failed tests.
 
Kovalev's Man Bag said:
He has a great resume but this does taint his legacy a bit just as SRR's was tainted when he ducked Burley. That said Canelo is still a 1st ballot Hall of Famer and one of the best fighters of his generation. SRR is still generally regarded as the finest boxer to ever live.
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And 90% of boxing fans dont know who Burley is.
Itll be the same for Canelo here. Too many accomplishments that time will side with him, unless Benavidez becomes an legend in his own right.
 
It really depends what you mean by "legacy". His legacy at the weight classes hes left is secure. As a P4P great it is not.

Anyhow I imagine Ward ties legacy to Mayweatherism in which case I guess Canelos legacy is in grave danger.
 
Obviously I’m a fan of Dre’s, but the guy is just not credible when he talks about the Redhead. He has some weird fixation related to him and and it manifests in an inability to be objective.
Truth be told it’s kind of creepy and sad.

I have no idea what the reason is. If I had to guess, I would say it relates to a fight he hoped to secure late in his career and the Canelo didn’t oblige. Who knows? No matter what the reason is, the poor fellow really needs to just lay off that subject, it hurts his credibility and witness IMO.
 
Old Cat said:
Obviously I’m a fan of Dre’s, but the guy is just not credible when he talks about the Redhead. He has some weird fixation related to him and and it manifests in an inability to be objective.
Truth be told it’s kind of creepy and sad.

I have no idea what the reason is. If I had to guess, I would say it relates to a fight he hoped to secure late in his career and the Canelo didn’t oblige. Who knows? No matter what the reason is, the poor fellow really needs to just lay off that subject, it hurts his credibility and witness IMO.
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He certainly has a bone to pick with Canelo but they have a history of bad blood. It heated up when Canelo called him out a while back. He wanted Ward to come out of retirement and fight him.

This bitter rivalry between the two is also because they both fought in the SMW & LHW divisions. Ward is right when he says that Canelo didn't face the best version of Kov. Back when he was the Krusher. Ward did. So they've been going back and forth for several years now. That's what led Ward to help train Plant for Canelo. The animosity is real.

Generally though, Ward is correct. Ducks aren't good for any fighter's legacy or image. Especially one of this magnitude.
 
Nova44 said:
It doesn't ruin his legacy obviously, but it leaves an asterisk next to it as to what might've happened if...
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It doesn't ruin it but it sure stains it. It means he never fought the best opponent in the division he was undisputed and the biggest fight to make in the sport.
 
It would to some degree though. It largely depends on how the rest of Benavidezs career pans out. If he starts looking bad soon then maybe not so much.
 
Kovalev's Man Bag said:
He certainly has a bone to pick with Canelo but they have a history of bad blood. It heated up when Canelo called him out a while back. He wanted Ward to come out of retirement and fight him.

This bitter rivalry between the two is also because they both fought in the SMW & LHW divisions. Ward is right when he says that Canelo didn't face the best version of Kov. Back when he was the Krusher. Ward did. So they've been going back and forth for several years now. That's what led Ward to help train Plant for Canelo. The animosity is real.

Generally though, Ward is correct. Ducks aren't good for any fighter's legacy or image. Especially one of this magnitude.
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I would argue Canellos at a point in his career he can fight whoever the heck he wants, he earned it, but but that’s just my opinion.

Speaking of Dre, he appears hyper critical of the Readhead. Again, this is just the way I see it ,his whole shtick just comes off weird and reeks of jealousy; it hurts his witness.
 
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