David Benavidez has no shortage of HUGE fights on his radar. In an exclusive interview with BoxingScene, Jose Benavidez Sr. makes it clear that David still wants the biggest names at 175lbs including Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev. Benavidez has previously said those are two fights he wants to make as he pursues more titles and major challenges. But there’s another name that could make things very interesting: Andy Ruiz Jr. Jose discusses the possibility of an all-Mexican showdown between Benavidez and the former heavyweight champion, along with David’s plans across multiple divisions. And with a potential Jai Opetaia showdown also building after the pair came face-to-face following Opetaia’s latest victory, Benavidez has some massive options ahead.
The show will go on without Dillian Whyte.
Plans remain in place to proceed with the November 21 card at Wembley’s SSE Arena, only without its original main event and now on a different platform. Following the postponement of the rematch between Whyte and Alexander Povetkin, Matchroom Boxing has confirmed that a significant portion of the show will remain intact.
Now headlining the bill, second-generation welterweight Conor Benn (16-0, 11KOs) will face Germany’s Sebastian Formella (22-1, 10KOs) in a scheduled 10-round regional title fight. The bout will top a still-forming card that will air live on Sky Sports, having been moved off of the Sky Sports Box Office circuit.
Benn-Formella was previously tabbed to serve as the chief support to the aforementioned heavyweight clash, only for Povetkin to have to withdraw after being hospitalized upon contracting the infectious COVID-19 disease.
Whyte (27-1, 18KOs) was instantly removed from the bill, although there was casual talk of the longtime top-rated heavyweight contender perhaps pursuing an even bigger challenge. Included in such talks were a longshot attempt at landing as the December 5 opponent for World heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (30-0-1, 21KOs).
Instead, Matchroom Boxing will proceed with hopes of a January 30 date for the rematch. The working date would put the event more than five months out from the first fight, where Povetkin rallied from two 4th round knockdowns to put Whyte down and out seconds into round five of their August 22 Sky Box Office headliner.
As for the makeshift November 21 Sky Sports event, two undercard bouts have been confirmed by Hearn:
- Unbeaten heavyweight prospect Fabio Wardley (9-0, 8KOs) will step up in class for a scheduled 10-round clash versus Australia’s Lucas Browne (29-2, 25KOs);
- Charismatic second-year heavyweight Alen Babic (5-0, 5KOs) enters his first scheduled 10-round contest as the unbeaten Croatian will face British journeyman Tom Little (10-8, 3KOs).
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
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