Benavidez To Become WBC Light Heavyweight Title Holder

WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman has gone to his social media and announced that Unified champion Dmitry Bivol has decided to relinquish his WBC light heavyweight championship title ahead of a purse bid for what is supposed to be its defense against David Benavidez.

“I have just received a cold and impersonal notification from Dmitry Bivol lawyer, Patrick English, with arguments that are so ridiculous that I rather not discuss informing the WBC that Dmitry Bivol has decided to relinquish his WBC light heavyweight championship. We wish Bivol success and hereby confirm David Benavidez as WBC world light heavyweight champion,” posted WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman.

The purse bid was supposed to take place on 8^th of April in Mexico City and as a result, it would be safe to say that the scheduled session is cancelled.

Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) will claim the throne as he is currently the interim version of the WBC light heavyweight title.

Bivol (24-1, 12 KOs) might face a similar situation as he still has an overdue IBF mandatory title defence against Germany’s Michael Eifert. Eifert has been IBF’s top contender for the title since March 2023 after he was victorious over former lineal/WBC champion Jean Pascal.

The deal offered for this deal must be quite lucrative as Bivol might be two titles lighter by the time he faces Beterbiev (21-1, 20 KOs) in their third encounter. The two champions have already fought twice with each having a win over the other.

Both previous fights took place in Riyadh. The first one taking place in October where Beterbiev won after 12 rounds by majority decision to unify WBC, WBO and IBF with WBA title that was currently being held by Bivol.

On February 22, 2025, Bivol took his revenge when the two fighters met again in Riyadh. It was a thrilling match in which Bivol won by majority decision to hand Beterbiev his first defeat. With both fighters having one over each other, this almost certainly predicted a trilogy that will be used to settle the debate.

After elevation to title holder status, the new light heavyweight title holder Benavidez, will now focus on his first title defence which might come as soon as August or September.