Camille Estephan Pushing for Benavidez vs Ramirez: ‘We Will Offer That Fight To Riyadh Season’

Ramirez (21-0, 19 KOs) is currently on a three-fight knockout streak. Croatian Mark Calic and German world title challenger Adam Deines join Flannery on the Venezuelan’s victim list. Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) was elevated to full world champion status after Dmitry Bivol vacated the title to pursue a trilogy with Russian rival Artur Beterbiev.

“Somebody from Benavidez’s camp found some excuses as to why the fight would be hard to make happen,” Estephan explained. “It’s hard to understand as we have had David Lemieux fight on PBC before. I’m going to keep pushing the matter. It’s a fight we will approach Riyadh Season for, or we go to Benavidez as the opponent. I think Riyadh Season will be very willing to do the fight. They want to do the best fights; let’s go. Ramirez and his team want this fight, and as his promoter, I trust his camp. My next move is to contact the WBC and see where we are at. Obviously, we have the show with Christian Mbilli next week, and hopefully, by then, we will have a clear direction as to what the WBC wants to do.”

Ramirez could be forced to wait for his shot at world glory as promoter Eddie Hearn told a group of reporters that Callum Smith could be in line to face Benavidez: “We’ve had an offer from PBC for Callum Smith to fight Benavidez. We’re negotiating with them at the moment. There is a very good chance that Callum will take that fight against Benavidez, and we’ll be making our decision over the next one or two weeks.”

Liverpool’s Smith (31-2, 22 KOs) comes off a unanimous decision victory against fellow Englishman Joshua Buatsi in February to claim the WBO interim title. Smith is currently unranked by the WBC, the IBF, and WBA despite being first in line for Dmitry Bivol’s WBO world title.

The trilogy between Bivol and Beterbiev is expected to take place again in Saudi Arabia under the Riyadh Season banner later this year. However, IBA President Umar Kremlev has expressed a desire to take the contest to the Russian capital: “Whatever the cost, we will bring this fight to Moscow, and we are starting the negotiations,” Kremlev is quoted saying on the IBA official website. “I envision it at Luzhniki stadium with nearly 100,000 people crowd.”