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.
By Keith Idec
Dmitry Bivol expected to box Badou Jack next after watching Jack dismantle Nathan Cleverly in their light heavyweight title fight two months ago.
Instead, Jack quickly gave up the WBA world light heavyweight championship he won by stopping Wales’ Cleverly in the fifth round on the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Conor McGregor undercard August 26 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
By then, it had already become difficult to find willing opponents for the unbeaten Bivol, who was elevated from the WBA’s interim champion at 175 pounds to its world champion once Jack gave up the title.
“Of course I was surprised,” Bivol said through a translator during a conference call Wednesday. “I thought there was gonna be a way to make the fight happen because a fighter goes for a world title all of his career. And once he gets the title, that’s a big achievement. Why would you wanna give that up? I couldn’t understand why get the title to give it up before the first defense.”
Sweden’s Jack (22-1-2, 13 KOs) became a two-division champion in his first fight in the light heavyweight division. The former WBC super middleweight champion explained, however, that he wants a more lucrative opportunity than battling Bivol would’ve presented in his first defense of that 175-pound crown.
He has mentioned challenging WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson (29-1, 24 KOs) or former IBF/WBA/WBO champion Sergey Kovalev (30-2-1, 26 KOs) sometime in 2018.
Quebec’s Stevenson must first make a mandatory defense against Colombia’s Eleider Alvarez (23-0, 11 KOs). Kovalev is scheduled to fight Ukraine’s Vyacheslav Shabranskyy (19-1, 16 KOs) for the vacant WBO light heavyweight title November 25 in The Theater at Madison Square Garden (HBO).
Once Jack gave up the title, a purse bid for a bout between him and Bivol was canceled.
Kyrgyzstan’s Bivol (11-0, 9 KOs) has been left to make a title defense Saturday against unknown Australian Trent Broadhurst (20-1, 12 KOs) at Casino de Monte Carlo in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
HBO will televise the Bivol-Broadhurst bout live Saturday at 5:45 p.m. ET. It’ll be replayed at 5:45 p.m. PT and 9:45 p.m. ET/PT.
Bivol, 26, hopes to land a higher-profile fight thereafter and hasn’t given up on the possibility of facing Jack at some point.
“I hope I will fight with him,” Bivol said.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
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