In a stirring, impassioned appearance on ProBoxTV Monday, unbeaten two-division champion David Benavidez spoke of his zest for embracing the challenges of boxing.
“Wanting to be the best – for myself. We all have that little voice in my head: ‘I want to be the best,’” Benavidez said upon being asked by hosts Chris Algieri and Paulie Malignaggi why he wants to move up 25 pounds top challenge Mexico’s Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez for the cruiserweight belts May 2 in Las Vegas.
“I want to leave a great legacy, and a great example to my kids, that, with hard work, you can achieve anything you want. There’s a lot of great fighters out there for me [in cruiserweight and light-heavyweight]. That’s what excites me: that risk. I’m a vicious fighter.”
Benavidez 31-0 (25KOs) graduates to his own Cinco de Mayo weekend card after the honor was carried for years by Mexico’s former four-division champion and ex-undisputed super-middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez, who had surgery last year and will return to fight for the WBC super-middleweight belt versus champion Christian Mbilli in mid-September in Saudi Arabia.
“Very special … it’s always been something I wanted,” Benavidez said of fighting on Cinco de Mayo.
After fighting at 168lbs for a decade and waiting on Alvarez as a top WBC contender for four years to no avail, Benavidez said he would now reject any overture by Alvarez to fight at that weight given Benavidez’s position as WBC light-heavyweight titlist and the May 2 bout at 200lbs.
“I wish he would say that because he’d be saying he’s scared without saying he’s scared,” Benavidez said.
There was no sense of fear in Benavidez as he discussed the big leap in weight to meet former sparring partner and two-division champion Ramirez, who has only lost to three-belt light-heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol.
Bivol hasn’t fought for more than a year after back surgery and he’ll return in May versus mandatory IBF contender Michael Eifert.
He expressed frustration at Bivol’s plodding path, which will likely take him after Eifert to a trilogy fight versus former undisputed 175lbs champion Artur Beterbiev.
“It’s very clear I’m trying to fight the biggest and the best,” Benavidez said while urging fellow young champions to prefer rigorous bouts over the highest available purse. “I spoke to [Ramirez promoter] Oscar [De La Hoya], and I don’t want to backtrack and take a regular fight.
“Bivol got injured and took another fight … this kind of shit has been happening to me for quite a while. This is one of the biggest fights of the year.”
Benavidez said he has long felt he would fight Ramirez after feeling he got the better of him in sparring.
“I feel really good … I have good energy and stamina and I don’t have to strip any muscle down,” Benavidez said. “I’m expecting my best performance ever. … It’s not [all about] my power. It’s my combinations of punches and speed and movement. I’m un-matched.”
Asked what he anticipates doing next with former cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia, Bivol and Beterbiev on the landscape, Benavidez said, “I don’t know, bro.”
Whoever offers another opportunity to call himself the best is the most likely route.
Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.
