Demetrius Andrade believed he was on his way to a Floyd Mayweather-esque sort of career. Not in terms of fame, fortune, and world title wins but merely from an undisputed standpoint. Although he still had a considerable amount of work to do, after 32 pro fights, no one came close to beating him. That is until he stepped into the ring with David Benavidez.

Currently unranked by The Ring, Andrade had little to no answers as Benavidez fought past a slow start to score a sixth-round stoppage win when they squared off in November of 2023. With Andrade out of the way, Benavidez is hoping that one day, preferably soon, he’ll be given the opportunity to fight The Ring’s reigning super middleweight champion, Canelo Alvarez.

Although he already had his chance, Andrade (32-1, 18 KOs) refuses to move to the back of the line. Even if Alvarez were willing to fight Benavidez at some point this year, the former two-division champ wants to run things back first.

“Canelo, don’t fight David,” warned Andrade during an interview with Fight Hub TV. “Let me get at him one more time.”

Alvarez, 34, has received his fair share of criticism for ignoring Benavidez. According to the future Hall of Famer, several factors are working against his man. For starters, Alvarez (62-2-2, 39 KOs) isn’t convinced that Benavidez has done enough to earn a shot against him. Also, Alvarez hasn’t been offered the lucrative payday he’s been seeking in order to face him.

If, by chance, Alvarez’s demands are met, Andrade doesn’t believe it would be a good idea to face him anyway. He may have recently taken the 0’s of Jaime Munguia and Edgar Berlanga but Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) is another animal entirely claimed Andrade.

While some may continue to lambast Alvarez, Andrade understands where he’s coming from.

“I don’t think Canelo is beating David at all. I don’t blame him for not fighting David. I’m longer and taller than Canelo. You gotta really have the right skill set, movement, and sharpness to beat David. Canelo is smaller than me.”

After years of doing his best to make their showdown a reality, Benavidez, at least for now, has placed that dream on the back burner. He recently moved on from the super middleweight division and currently campaigns at 175 pounds where he holds The Ring’s No. 2 ranking. He’ll return on February 1st, where he’ll take on The Ring’s No. 8 ranked contender, David Morrell.