Canelo: ‘I can do whatever I want;’ but Benavidez, Crawford should be

LAS VEGAS — For the fifth time in five fights for the undisputed super middleweight crown, Canelo Alvarez remained king and more importantly, maintained his status as the face of boxing.

As the fight game’s most bankable fighter, Alvarez calls the shots and once again found an opening to score a knockdown, even if it didn’t lead to a KO win. Alvarez floored Jaime Munguia in Round 4 of Saturday’s victory, but like Jermell Charlo and John Ryder before him, beat the count to lose via a lopsided decision.

Now, public demand will grow louder for Alvarez to fight rising star David Benavidez, “The Mexican Monster,” who broke out last year with brutal beatings of Caleb Plant and Demetrius Andrade.

“If the money’s right … I can fight [Benavidez] right now,” Alvarez said. “I don’t give a s—. It’s only a matter of money at this point. Everybody is asking for everything.

“When I fought [Erislandy] Lara, Austin Trout, Miguel Angel Cotto, [Floyd] Mayweather, Billy Joe Saunders, GGG, everybody said I don’t want to fight them, and I fought all of them. So right now … I can do whatever I want.”

Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs) has resisted the cries to fight Benavidez, repeatedly saying that he can do whatever he wants after all he’s accomplished. There’s no doubting his legacy and credentials. The 33-year-old is an all-time great. But when you’re the biggest star in an entire sport, it’s accompanied by the demand to deliver what the public wants.

“The fans now are getting upset because this is the biggest fight on the table,” Benavidez, 27, told ESPN earlier Saturday at the news conference to promote his June 15 fight vs. Oleksandr Gvozdyk. “And why are we going to leave it on the table for no reason?

“This is a fight that has to happen. … And I’m going to keep putting these types of performances on where people are going to want to see it. The demand of this fight is really high. It’s bad blood. I don’t like him. He doesn’t like me.”