^^ I know that's how everything works now, but as you can see if you hear Canelo throughout his career, he will always says that he doesn't back down from any challenges and he wanted to face the best.
Perhaps he learn his lessons from the GGG match, majority here including me thinks that he lost at least the first or even the second fight. And he almost didn't give GGG his rematch but he can't do anything with GGG goes to DAZN. So moving forward it's fight that give him less risk, but then again he encounter Bivol. And with that, a few fights, Ryder, Charlo he won but it's not that fight that fans wanted to see for him. Canelo is now going after the money and not for his legacy.
He's using his popularity to earn more money. As you mentioned, he's no longer that dominant the way he was before. He knew that after that loss against Bivol he's been exposed and the chance of losing is no longer impossible. Now, he's using all the possible excuses just to escape and prevent what fans wanted from him. Benavidez is the best pick and, for sure, fans love to see Alvarez proving his dominance, but it's not what we are seeing and hearing from Canelo's camp, excuses, and they are doing their best not to give Benavidez a chance.
Assuming Canelo needs something else for his legacy, I reckon he battles the winner of Beterbiev versus Bivol. That will bring him prestige particularly assuming he wins and becomes undisputed in two weight classes like Crawford and Inoue.
That's the best thing for him to do to gain more popularity, but that means climbing up again in weight, which he failed against Bivol. If Beterbiev wins here via KO, that means he is too much for Bivol, and I don't know if it's wise for Canelo to challenge the boxer that defeated the boxer who defeated him.
Canelo has never been KO'd in his career as a boxer, and maybe that will be the time that he'll suffer his worst defeat at the hands of Beterbiev, who is a 100% KO artist. I'm not sure he is up for that challenge as his legacy is also at stake big time.
If the outcome turned against him, it might be a worse decision that he take instead of keeping his legacy, by that kind of loss it will bring his name down, though, that's a kind of risk that may give him more popularity as if by chance he beat the champ who beats him from the said division, he will gain more and will be added to his resume of success.
