Filip Hrgovic risks blowing a massive rematch with Daniel Dubois before formal talks even begin. Frank Sanchez stands in his way, expected to challenge for the IBF heavyweight crown in Croatia early next year.

Hrgovic crashed the ring after Dubois blasted out Fabio Wardley inside two rounds on Saturday, demanding an immediate March unification. Manager Keith Connolly, however, sees Sanchez as the mandatory hurdle that must come first.

“We’ll probably fight Sanchez and get that out of the way and then do the bigger fight afterwards,” Connolly told BoxingScene.

Writing off Sanchez like that carries serious danger. One slip costs Hrgovic his hardware, wiping out the massive financial reward of a unified clash with Dubois.

Sanchez previously took step-aside money so Hrgovic could battle Moses Itauma for the vacant belt in August. After stopping Itauma in the ninth round, Hrgovic became legally bound to face the Cuban contender. Bypassing Sanchez now to jump right at Dubois demands another costly deal.

Connolly targets a date past January for the defense, noting that talks with Croatian officials continue without an official schedule.

“I think Sanchez is a good match-up for my guy,” Connolly claimed. “Sanchez is not going to knock my guy out.”

Hrgovic took sustained, heavy punishment against Itauma before youth and exhaustion caught up with the British fighter. He got dropped in round two, ate flush uppercuts, and spent six rounds absorbing clean power shots before his toughness finally paid off.

Wars like that take something out of a fighter that never truly returns. Walking into a bout against Sanchez right after that kind of beating is asking for disaster. Sanchez possesses elite Cuban schooling. He controls distance, sets traps, and makes opponents pay when they overreach.

Unlike Itauma, who blew his entire gas tank chasing an early knockout, Sanchez paces himself. He stays disciplined, works behind a slick jab, and detonates accurate counter rights.

Hrgovic still fights with an upright posture that leaves his chin available. Dubois cracked it until cuts forced a halt, and Itauma landed at will early. If Hrgovic lumbers forward against Sanchez hoping his durability carries him again, he could find himself outboxed, battered, and thoroughly picked apart long before any rematch with Dubois materializes.

Avenging the June 2024 stoppage loss on cuts against Dubois makes complete sense for Hrgovic. Arriving as a reigning champion provides the bargaining chip Dubois actually wants.

Drop the belt to Sanchez, and that leverage disappears instantly. Hrgovic and Connolly keep staring at the massive prize down the road, but brushing off an elite contender as a minor chore could turn into a costly mistake.

David Benavidez has finally conceded that a fight with Canelo Alvarez will never happen, admitting that reality years after his climb up the divisions settled the question.

Benavidez currently fights at cruiserweight, two full divisions above super middleweight, while openly discussing a future heavyweight jump against Oleksandr Usyk. He has not made 168 pounds since 2023. Any realistic window to face Canelo closed several weight classes ago.

“I think honestly I could say with confidence that that fight is never going to happen,” Benavidez told Brian Custer.

When Brian asked if he had permanently moved on, Benavidez praised Canelo, yet still claimed the Mexican star simply refused to face him.

“I don’t want to keep disrespecting somebody … not even disrespecting, but just calling somebody out that doesn’t want to fight,” he said.

That rationale ignores the massive physical gap separating them today. Critics can reasonably argue Canelo should have met Benavidez when both shared the 168-pound division. That complaint loses all weight with Benavidez now preparing for Michal Cieslak at 200 pounds.

His prospective roadmap includes Jai Opetaia, Artur Beterbiev, and eventual heavyweight tests. None of those plans lead anywhere near Canelo.

A logical alternative after Canelo fell to Terence Crawford would have been targeting Crawford directly. Crawford had talked of entering boxing’s Mount Rushmore. The public intrigue around him was at an all-time peak, and Turki Alalshikh held the purse strings to fund virtually any blockbuster Crawford wanted next.

If Benavidez truly wanted to settle the score on the belts Canelo kept out of reach, Crawford was the obvious lever to pull. Instead of shifting his crosshairs to the newly crowned undisputed champion, Benavidez let the moment disappear.

“He’s a great fighter. He’s a legend,” Benavidez said. “I would like to be a great Mexican legend like him one day.”

Calling yourself a future Mexican legend sounds nice in an interview, but looking at the actual resume tells a different story. Canelo earned that status by taking on the toughest challenges available from junior middleweight all the way to light heavyweight, facing elite operators like Floyd Mayweather Jr., Gennadiy Golovkin, Miguel Cotto, and Dmitry Bivol.

Benavidez is nowhere near that neighborhood. Instead of securing defining legacy bouts, he is lining up voluntary defenses against Michal Cieslak at 200 pounds. While Cieslak is a capable European contender, nobody outside of hard-core circles is paying to see that fight. It does nothing to elevate Benavidez to the pantheon of Mexican greats.

If Benavidez genuinely wanted to close the gap on Canelo, he needed to make real waves. Taking out Gilberto Ramirez was a solid win, but sitting on belts and scheduling low-demand opponents like Cieslak keeps him in neutral. Fighting fringe contenders at cruiserweight only proves that while he talks about chasing history, his matchmaking still trails far behind the standard Canelo set.

Rumours of a left-field bout between WBC welterweight world champion Ryan Garcia and boxing icon Floyd Mayweather surfaced earlier this month.

Garcia has publicly addressed the talkconfirming that an offer is on the table but setting strict conditions for his participation.

Taking to social media, the 28-year-old active champion outright rejected the idea of an exhibition match, stating that he will only accept a licensed professional contest that puts Mayweather’s legendary 50-0 undefeated record at risk.

In his comments on X, Garcia claimed that Mayweather was the one who initiated contact, stating:

“I’m ready Floyd, remember you made this call. I’m just returning the favor. Offer is on the table … Let’s see how much you love that ‘0’… And no I wouldn’t do an exhibition I want his 0 on the f—ing line”.

Mayweather has not fought in a sanctioned professional bout since his 2017 victory over Conor McGregor, competing exclusively in exhibitions since that time. A scheduled professional return in a rematch against Manny Pacquiao was postponed due to legal issues on the American’s side.

Despite all of the above, four-weight champion Adrien Broner recently told Garcia to his face that Mayweather beats him.

“Floyd [wins]. Floyd gonna smoke bruh.”

Garcia was then animated about the potential fight, saying:

“I’ll knock out Floyd. If I get him hurt, it’s over. I’m not letting him go. I’ve seen him, he’s a small man. I don’t give a f**k what his name is, I don’t believe in acronyms. You know what? F**k him.”

Most fans will remain unconvinced that the fight happens, and be content with that given Mayweather’s age and inactivity.

Garcia – who recently defended his belt with a blistering second round stoppage over Conor Benn – instead seems poised to face Teofimo Lopez in a welterweight unification bout, that is if Lopez’s appeal to the WBA to bypass mandatory challenger Jack Catterall is successful.