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.
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“She wants Katie Taylor, so that’s the truth,” said Shane McGuigan, talking about the immediate goals of his lightweight starlet Caroline Dubois.
Southpaw Londoner Dubois is 9-0 with five stoppage wins and an integral part of the Boxxer stable. Taylor is a Matchroom fighter who boxes on DAZN, but talks for a third fight between her and Chantelle Cameron have stalled and McGuigan is hopeful Dubois will be able to land the Taylor fight, even if that means traveling to Ireland – where his dad was a fighting hero – for the bout. Taylor is 23-1 (6 KOs) and an Irish icon.
“I’ve always said, ‘Oh, you know, Katie will probably vacate, Katie will probably move on’, but Katie Taylor is hanging on to these belts, and if she’s hanging on to these belts and Caroline is saying, ‘I want Katie Taylor,’ that would be huge,” said Dubois’ coach, Shane McGuigan. “That’d be massive. Katie might actually genuinely be up for it, so it’s like potentially the passing of the torch, or not, as the case may be.”
Dubois is 23-years-old and the No. 1 contender for Taylor’s WBA title.
With what seemed like an obvious trilogy fight with Cameron now seemingly moving further away, McGuigan contends Dubois is as good as anyone else for the assignment.
“Who else have they got?
“[Amanda] Serrano is logical, but are they going to get Serrano?
“Caroline Dubois would be up for going to Ireland and boxing Katie Taylor, for her two world titles at lightweight, and I think Eddie [Hearn] would potentially be up for it as well. I think it makes sense, I think it would be a good build up…”
McGuigan admits he probably would not get the warmest reception in Ireland, going there with Dubois to take on a national treasure, but McGuigan has another option for Dubois, to fight for the interim title, win that, become mandatory challenger for Taylor and then try to force the fight.
“At the end of the day, I’ve invested a lot of time and effort into Caroline and she’s going to be the best fighter in the 135 division and she wants to win the titles off the main person that genuinely holds them, and that’s Katie Taylor, and she’s held them for so long and we’re stressing that is our angle. We want to go for that route.”
