David Benavidez moving on from Canelo Alvarez after champ’s avoidance:

LAS VEGAS — When it comes to his plan of taking over the sport of boxing and becoming one of its biggest stars and best pound-for-pound fighters, David Benavidez believes it will happen with or without the help of undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez. 

Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs), a former two-time champion at 168 pounds who never lost his titles in the ring, has been the No. 1 contender to Alvarez for three years and, most recently, the WBC interim titleholder yet he could not convince the 33-year-old Mexican icon, nor the sanctioning bodies that refuse to strip his titles, of making one of the biggest fights the sports could produce. 

Instead, the 27-year-old “Mexican Monster,” which is the nickname given to Benavidez by Mike Tyson, will take his career into his own hands on Saturday when he moves up to light heavyweight to challenge former champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk (20-1, 16 KOs) for the WBC interim title at 175 pounds.

“To be honest with you, I did everything in my power possible to make that fight happen,” Benavidez told CBS Sports at Thursday’s media day. “I beat the fighters that they told me I couldn’t beat. I was No. 1 contender for the past three years but I had my hands tied. 

“I did everything in my power possible to make it happen. The only reason this fight is not happening is because Canelo doesn’t want it to happen because he knows damn well that when he faces me, I’m taking all of his titles home with me.”

One thing you won’t hear, however, is Benavidez going out of his way to trash Alvarez for avoiding him, which many fans and critics have done. He has too much business of his own to take care of.

Should Benavidez win, he has already been named by Turki Alalshikh, Saudi Arabia’s chairman of the general entertainment authority who is charge of the kingdom’s massive boxing budget, as the fighter who will next face the winner of October’s undisputed…