This fight is likely to remain fantasy, as Benavidez recently stated that he is not going to cut down to 168 for the Crawford bout and Crawford said that he isn't gonna fight light-heavyweights.
But let's explore what could have happened, had Crawford from the Canelo fight faced Benavidez of 2023, from his last two super-middleweight fights against Plant and Andrade.
Who would've won?
Terence Crawford vs David Benavidez
Re: Terence Crawford vs David Benavidez
Benavidez would beat him up because he's too big. That's why they needed him to be weight drained to even think about it.
Re: Terence Crawford vs David Benavidez
Turki Alalshikh expressed his desire to make this fight at 168 after the conclusion of Canelo-Crawford. However, as I mentioned above, Benavidez shut it down.
In theory, they possibly could've tried Leonard-Lalonde thing with this fight - Benavidez would move down to 168lbs mark and they'd have made Crawford-Benavidez a bout for belts in two divisions. They'd fight for Crawford's SMW belts, with Benavidez' WBC 175lbs belt also being at stake.
That would've been a farcical scenario, but doable (if Benavidez would've agreed to it).