Benavidez, a former two-time super middleweight champion, has been eyeing the Mexican boxing great for some time but has yet to lure him into the ring.

Instead, he recently moved up to light heavyweight, winning decisively over Oleksandr Gvozdyk in his debut in the division. With that victory, he captured the interim WBC world title, positioning himself to maintain his weight class and become a mandatory challenger for the winner of the highly anticipated bout between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol later this year.

Bivol is one of only two men to have defeated Canelo, the other being Floyd Mayweather. In an interview with FightHubTV, Bivol encouraged Benavidez to keep pressing forward.

“I don’t know what’s going on between him and Canelo. He knows something, that’s why he moved up. He’s a big guy. That’s his team’s decision and I respect it,” Bivol stated.

“Maybe [Canelo] doesn’t care, so why should [Benavidez] wait? Of course, he needs to move forward. Guys shouldn’t wait for anyone too long, they should follow their path and move forward.”

‘Canelo’ is focused on his goals and has been negotiating to fight IBF’s William Scull, although Scull has hinted at possibly vacating the title.