Sampson Lewkowicz has ridiculed Canelo Alvarez for several years because the Mexican superstar has refused to fight David Benavidez.

Benavidez’s outspoken promoter has changed his mind after what he witnessed Saturday night. Watching a stationary Alvarez struggle to cut off the ring and fail to mount any sort of offense against elusive Cuban William Scull made Lewkowicz think he wouldn’t want to match Benavidez against him.

Lewkowicz is surer than ever that the taller, younger, relentless Benavidez would batter Alvarez in a one-sided fight.

“After watching Canelo Alvarez Saturday night and how he looked, I wouldn’t put him in with Benavidez for fear he’d be badly injured,” Lewkowicz said in a statement released to media Monday. “David Benavidez will fight in the fall and then be ready for Cinco de Mayo [in 2026] to face either [Dmitry] Bivol or [Artur] Beterbiev, where the torch will finally be passed to him as the new face of boxing.”

Phoenix’s Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) was elevated from interim light heavyweight champion by the WBC to full champion when Bivol vacated the WBC 175-pound crown last month. The WBC had ordered Bivol to make a mandated defense of its title versus Benavidez next, but the Russian gave up that belt because he is headed for a rubber match against former champ Beterbiev sometime in the fall.

Bivol (24-1, 12 KOs) beat Beterbiev (21-1, 20 KOs) by majority decision in their 12-round rematch and became boxing’s undisputed light heavyweight champion Feb. 22 at ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Winning their closely contested, fan-friendly second bout earned Bivol The Ring, IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO titles.

Benavidez could battle British contender Callum Smith (31-2, 22 KOs) next in his first defense of the WBC belt.

Benavidez, 28, defeated perhaps the toughest opponent of his career, Cuban southpaw David Morrell Jr., in his last appearance. Morrell (11-1, 9 KOs) was credited with a controversial knockdown in the 11th round Feb. 1 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, but he had a point deducted by referee Thomas Taylor for hitting Benavidez after the bell sounded to end that round.

Benavidez beat Morrell by scores of 118-108, 115-111 and 115-111.

A frustrated Benavidez moved up to the light heavyweight division last year because the former WBC super middleweight champ couldn’t entice Alvarez to fight him. Alvarez (63-2-2, 39 KOs) reunified all of the super middleweight belts by outpointing Scull (23-1, 9 KOs), his sixth straight win since Bivol beat him unanimously on points in May 2022 at T-Mobile Arena.

Their fight was unbelievably boring because Scull wouldn’t stand and fight, which led to Alvarez aimlessly following him around the ring for most of their 12-round bout.

They combined to throw only 445 punches, the lowest total in CompuBox’s 40-year history for a 12-round fight. Alvarez’s 152 attempts were the second lowest total CompuBox has tracked in a 12-rounder.

Alvarez, 34, nevertheless advanced to a showdown with fellow four-division champion Terence Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) on Sept. 12 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.