Benavidez Wants Undisputed At 175 On Cinco De Mayo

David Benavidez wants to upstage Canelo Alvarez and fight for the Undisputed Light Heavyweight Championship on Cinco De Mayo next year. 

The Mexican Monster is the WBC Interim Light Heavyweight Champion after having beaten Oleksandr Gvozdyk in his prior bout. The victory made him mandatory for the winner of Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol, who fought on October 12. Benavidez decided to stay at 175 pounds after failing to get the Canelo Alvarez fight.

He had been Canelo’s WBC mandatory for over two years at 168. But the WBC did not order the mandatory, leaving Canelo to pursue other targets. Canelo has also demanded $200 million to make that fight, thus pricing himself out. Since Benavidez cannot be a mandatory in two weight classes for the WBC, he has decided to stay at light heavyweight. 

Benavidez Stays At 175

“The WBC has just received a letter from @SampsonBoxing exclusive promoter of @Benavidez300 confirming that David Benavidez will continue his career as [a light heavyweight. He is confirmed as WBC 175 interim champion and is the mandatory contender for the winner Beterbiev vs Bivol,” WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman said

The problem for Benavidez is that he did not look his best against Gvozdyk. His punching power did not look the same against the bigger fighters. Meanwhile, he has only had one bout at the weight class. While he has the advantage of not being drained, unlike at 168 where he rehydrates, Bivol and Beterbiev are the two best fighters at 175. Bivol has the ability to outbox him. Meanwhile, Beterbiev has a 100 percent KO rate, showing that Benavidez must be on guard. Benavidez has previously stated that he knocked out Bivol in sparring. But sparring is a completely different thing than fighting under the bright lights. 

Benavidez Leaves Canelo

Benavidez can now focus on making his legacy. A fight on Cinco De Mayo would no doubt sell and upstage what Canelo could do unless he were to face Terence Crawford. Meanwhile, Canelo’s stock will drop further as it justifies the claims that he was ducking Benavidez.

Even a fight with Crawford is questionable since Bud would have to jump up two weight classes to beat him. Alvarez was initially dismissive of the idea after claiming he would get no credit for beating a 147 fighter. But Crawford’s opponent, Israil Madrimov, has other plans. He is also open to facing Canelo if he gets past Bud. 

“We are waiting for August 3rd to see who is the champion, and then Canelo-Madrimov. Maybe. A lot of people talk about Canelo-Crawford, but we have a fight on August 3rd. Don’t forget. I’m focusing only on my game plan, and I’m waiting to show it in the ring. Me too. I can go left and right. I think this fight is very interesting for boxing fans. [And] I don’t like to say early [what I’m going to do]. I like to wait until the fight to show how we make the fight,” Madrimov said 

Benavidez has yet to establish himself as a massive PPV star. But if he can get the undisputed fight at 175 on Cinco De Mayo, then a win boosts his profile to another level. That may be when he overtakes Canelo as the biggest Mexican star.