David Benavidez has determined to remain at 175 to pursue a title shot towards the winner of the Dmitry Bivol vs. Artur Beterbiev gentle heavyweight conflict.
WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman posted on X tonight, revealing that Benavidez’s promoter has notified him that he’ll stay at gentle heavyweight, the place he holds the interim 175-lb title and is obligatory for the Bivol-Beterbiev winner.
Final month, on June fifteenth, Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) defeated Oleksandr Usyk by a twelve-round unanimous resolution in a WBC gentle heavyweight title eliminator to seize the interim title and change into obligatory.
Canelo’s Choice Seals Benavidez’s Destiny
Benavidez, 27, vacated his WBC interim tremendous middleweight title, which was possible the results of immediately’s information of undisputed 168-lb champion Canelo Alvarez finalizing a deal to defend towards WBA obligatory Edgar Berlanga on September 14th on the T-Cellular Enviornment in Las Vegas.
Canelo’s resolution to face Berlanga fairly than Benavidez made it clear that he had no plans to face him. Terence Crawford is already being pegged as Canelo’s opponent within the first half of subsequent 12 months, supplied Alvarez is victorious towards Berlanga on September 14th. Crawford shall be shifting up two divisions to problem Canelo for his titles.
Though Benavidez has given up on his Canelo dream as a result of there are not any alternatives for him, he can nonetheless do fairly effectively financially preventing the winner of the Bivol-Beterbiev undisputed conflict in 2025. His Excellency Turki Alalashikh is inquisitive about Benavidez preventing the winner of that struggle, and it’s one which he received’t have a troublesome time getting.
Beterbiev and Bivol could be open to preventing Benavidez, as that’s a well-paying struggle for them. The 175-lb division has no large names, and Benavidez will instantly be the preferred fighter that both of those two champions might face.
Benavidez didn’t look nice in his struggle towards Gvozdyk final month. He confirmed little or no energy and pale after six rounds. After the struggle, Benavidez blamed his energy absence available accidents, however some boxing followers are skeptical as a result of none of his pictures confirmed a lot pop.
What’s extra worrisome is that Benavidez gassed out after six rounds. He couldn’t blame that on an damage. The additional weight he’ll carry as a light-weight heavyweight might gradual him down, making him weak.
The WBC has simply obtained a letter from @SampsonBoxing unique promoter of @Benavidez300 confirming that David Benavidez will proceed his profession as Lightheavyweight . He’s confirmed as WBC 175 interim champion and is the obligatory contender for the winner Beterbiev vs Bivol
— Mauricio Sulaiman (@wbcmoro) July 23, 2024
