David Benavidez said he will move to cruiserweight in pursuit of greatness.
Benavidez defeated Anthony Yarde in Saudi Arabia, scoring an impressive seventh-round stoppage over the Englishman.
But Benavidez said he has been left frustrated by his attempts to land a fight with Dmitry Bivol at 175lbs in a similar way to how he could not get Canelo Alvarez to fight at 168lbs.
“I wanted to fight Bivol for this fight, I was the No. 1 contender to fight for the WBC title, that’s why I have the WBC title because he relinquished it and he wasn’t ready to fight but that’s the fight I wanted to have because I wanted to make my dreams come true of becoming a unified champion, but I don’t know what’s going on over there… I don’t want to wait for anyone anymore,” said the 28-year-old.
Instead, he said he would likely face Zurdo Ramirez for the WBO and WBA cruiserweight titles in Las Vegas on May 2 and, asked whether that could take him into a mouth-watering clash with IBF cruiser champ Jai Opetaia, Benavidez said: “I’m here to prove myself. That’s what I’m here for… I just want to prove myself as a fighter. I want to be like the greats of this sport, I want to be in the conversation with Usyk, Terence Crawford and I still have a long time, I’m 28-years-old and I want to achieve greatness.”
Yarde had again been gallant in defeat, and Benavidez – who said he hoped to fight on more Ring/Riyadh Season bills in the future – gave the challenger his props, although he said he did not feel the Londoner’s power.
“We had a great fight, we had a great build up to this fight,” Benavidez added. “I told everyone I wanted to make a statement this fight. I told everyone I wanted to steal the show, and I think I did that. Anthony Yarde came to go to war but I told him no one can mess with me.”
