Welsh great Joe Calzaghe would still rather see Saul “Canelo” Alvarez fight David Benavidez than anyone else.

Calzaghe, who rounded out his unbeaten Hall of Fame career as a dominant super middleweight with victories over Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones at light heavyweight, has observed the recent career decisions made by Canelo. Part of the Welshman even wanted to see the Mexican star take on Jake Paul, not because of what it meant in a sporting sense but to close the book on crossover fights.

Canelo and Paul were reportedly on course to fight in Las Vegas in May, but the Mexican opted for a different path and now fights IBF champion William Scull in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on May 3.

“It’s interesting,” said Calzaghe, who called it a day at 46-0 (32 KOs). “With the Jake Paul thing, if Canelo had gone in there, smashed him up and shut him up, I was looking forward to that. Not really as a fight because I don’t think it would have been a fight, but him putting the record straight regarding boxers and him [Jake Paul] picking on Mike Tyson, bless him [Tyson], when he was nearly 60 years old and he bashed him up. So that would have been interesting.”

In a pure boxing sense, Canelo-Scull has more logic attached to it than Canelo-Paul, but it is not the commercial juggernaut the latter would have been. Benavidez would have done well at the box office, too, but he has seemingly departed 168 to push his claims for titles at 175.

“It’s a tricky one,” said Calzaghe, who would rather have seen Canelo fight Benavidez either Paul or Scull. “I’d love to have seen him against Benavidez, as everyone says, but I think the best should fight the best. But he’s making so much money I suppose he hasn’t got to fight Benavidez. It [Benavidez]’s a very risky fight for him. I think he’s wrong for him. It’s not that I don’t think Canelo can’t beat him, but he’s a big, strong, tall, rangy fighter and a bigger fighter altogether, so that’s a fight I want to see but I don’t think that’s going to happen, is it?” 

Canelo, who seems likely to be heading into a fight with Terence Crawford in September, is coming off victories over Jaime Munguia and Edgar Berlanga, when the sport has been calling for the Benavidez fight.  

“The goalposts have changed a little bit,” admitted Calzaghe, talking about the Scull fight. “You’re making two or three times the money fighting some guy you should beat quite comfortably.”