David Benavidez is happy with the way his career is playing out, but the future he envisioned and the reality look completely different.

It made sense for Canelo Alvarez and Benavidez to square off. Alvarez represented the established lion with plenty of gas in the tank. While Benavidez was the young bull, full of energy and anxious to show that the world belongs to him. Sometimes, however, even when things seemingly make sense, they simply don’t happen.

For whatever reason, the two never crossed paths. The blame game is one that splits the opinions of boxing fans. Some will say that Alvarez was deliberately avoiding The Ring’s No. 2 ranked light heavyweight. Others will say that Benavidez was all talk. Regardless, the point is, the fight isn’t happening.

With Benavidez securing a twelve round unanimous decision over David Morrell last weekend, he inches one step closer to a light heavyweight title shot.

The Ring broke the news on Monday, that WBA junior middleweight champion Terence Crawford will move up in weight by two weight classes to challenge Canelo for his Ring, WBO, WBC, IBF, WBA, IBO super middleweight titles. The fight will headline a Riyadh Season event on a date in September at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

For the first time in his career, the smooth switch-hitter opened up as a slight underdog. It would be easy for Benavidez to jump on the Alvarez bandwagon. Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) isn't the biggest man in the world and Alvarez (62-2-2, 39 KOs) seemingly has the sort of power that can dent a rhino’s skull.

Thankfully for Crawford, skills pay the bills. Putting his chin in the air and throwing bombs in the middle of the ring won’t be a part of his game plan. Well, at least it shouldn’t be according to Benavidez. Crawford isn’t favored, nor should he be considering the circumstances from Benavidez’s point of view but doubting someone as great as the future Hall of Famer isn’t something he’s about to do either.

“Crawford is coming up from 154 to 168,” said Benavidez to 210 Boxing TV. “That’s two weight classes above but Crawford is Crawford. He's a good fighter. If anybody can beat Canelo, it’s Crawford.”