‘I’m not worried about Canelo, I’m worried about Demetrius Andrade’: David Benavidez says Andrade is his biggest fight to date

David Benavidez says he’s not looking ahead to a potential huge money clash with Canelo Alvarez next May, as he’s fully focused on Demetrius Andrade, his Nov. 25 Showtime PPV opponent.

Benavidez (27-0, 23 KO) expressed a lot of respect for the skills of Andrade (32-0, 19 KO) at their first press conference on Thursday in Las Vegas.

“This is definitely the biggest fight of my career. I give Demetrius a lot of props. He’s a great fighter and a lot of people have been ducking him for a long time,” Benavidez said.

“Nobody wanted to give him the opportunity but now we came together and we have the opportunity to make a great fight happen. These are the fights I want. I want to make my own lane and face the best. Andrade is one of the best in this weight class.

“I know this isn’t going to be an easy fight but at the end of the day, it’s going to bring the best out of me. I’m a monster for a reason.”

Benavidez also compared Andrade to Caleb Plant, David’s most recent opponent, and seems to believe that this will be more difficult.

“Everything about Demetrius Andrade is different than Caleb Plant. His fighting style. He’s a lefty. His combination selection is different. It’s up to me to do the homework and see what I can learn from him off his previous fights and then put in the game plan.

“He’s a world-class fighter and he’s not going to give me an easy fight at all. He’s hungry for the fight so that’s going to make for a great fight and the fans are going to be the ones who win. He’s a very technical fighter. He’s a champion in two different weight classes. When you get a fighter like this, it’s 50-50. He’s a threat to anybody. A lot of people wouldn’t take the fight with him because they know he’s a problem. But for me, I want to be the best.

That threat Benavidez sees in Andrade means he’s not thinking Canelo just yet — or at least not too much. He did take a little swipe within saying he’s focused on Andrade.

“I’m not worried about Canelo Alvarez. I’m worried about Demetrius Andrade. I definitely believe the winner of this fight is the best super middleweight in the world.”