“I’ll knock [Canelo] out! I'll stop him! It takes a lot of balls to say that but the reason why I'm saying that is because I really fully, truly believe I'm the one that can beat and stop Canelo.”
That's 24-year-old rising boxing star David Benavidez verbally taking on the #1 pound-for-pound boxer in the world, megastar Canelo Alvarez.
TMZ Sports talked to Benavidez -- who's taking on Ronald Ellis on March 13 on Showtime -- about his boxing hit list ... and DB's going big game hunting.
"The dream scenario is fight with [Jermall] Charlo right after and then Caleb Plant and then Canelo. That's the dream scenario but the reality of making that happen, is very hard."
30-year-old Canelo is 55-1-2 ... and obviously has far more experience. But, Benavidez -- who's almost 6'2" (big for the 168 lb. division) -- is a badass in the ring ... and has never lost a professional fight (23-0, 20 KO's).
That's why he's anything but shook about the prospect of stepping in the squared circle with Alvarez.
"The top people [Canelo's] fought, they just look like they're scared of him and they just respect him too much, but me, I feel like I'm a young, hungry lion! I need that fight because I wanna show the fans how good I really am."
And, Benavidez says Canelo can try and duck him ... but sooner or later, this thing's goin' down -- like it or not.
"He's gonna try avoid me as long as possible, but I feel like at the end of the day, this fight is gonna be demanded," Benavidez says.
"Not by just me, but by everybody. Everybody's gonna wanna see it because after he beats Billy Joe Saunders and Caleb Plant, who else is there left for him to fight besides David Benavidez?"