Jose Benavidez Sr: David ‘Only Going to Get Bigger at 175’
Mar 6, 2024 • 11:03 AM ET
There’s some disillusion floating around the mind of David Benavidez’s father and trainer, Jose Benavidez Sr. But the elder Benavidez finds it dissipating the more he talks about his son’s future.
“We’re only going to get bigger at 175 [pounds],” Jose said of David’s move up in weight to meet Ukraine’s Oleksandr Gvozdyk (20-1, 16 KOs) for the WBC interim light heavyweight title and the right to fight the winner of the June 1 undisputed 175-pound title fight between unbeaten Russian champions Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
An official familiar with negotiations who is unauthorized to speak publicly on unfinished contractual matters told Boxing Scene the target date for Benavidez-Gvozdyk is June 15 on a Prime Video pay-per-view card featuring Gervonta “Tank” Davis vs. Frank Martin.
Gvozdyk is a former WBC 175-pound champion whose only defeat came to Betrerbiev.
Planning for that bout takes the Benavidezes’ thoughts away from the recent past, when they learned undisputed super middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez was bypassing David for another bout, with unbeaten countryman Jaime Munguia of Tijuana expected to be named Alvarez’s May 4 foe in the near future.
“[Canelo] said he wouldn’t fight another Mexican, and [the WBC] said they’d take away his belt in March and give it to us because we’re the mandatory,” Benavidez Sr. said.
“It’s March.”
Echoing statements David (28-0, 24 KOs) has previously given, Benavidez Sr. said his son agreed on the heels of his impressive stoppage of former middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade to fight Alvarez for “minimum pay.”
“They disappeared … they wanted to hear me ask for a lot of money. I didn’t, because we just wanted the fight,” Benavidez Sr. said. “And they still disappeared.”
Benavidez Sr. said he has been pleased to see his son winning the public relations battle against Alvarez.
“We see everyone’s on his a**,” Benavidez Sr. said. “Once we fight and look good at 175, it’s not going to look too good on Canelo at all.
“I think there’s a possibility Munguia can pull it off, too. He’s younger and stronger.”
Later this month, Benavidez Sr. will join his son in training at a gym in Miami, where David recently bought a condominium.
Lance Pugmire has been a full-time boxing writer for nearly 20 years, serving now as BoxingScene’s U.S. Senior Writer and assistant producer for ProBoxTV’s “BoxingScene Today.” Pugmire capped a near 20-year career at the Los Angeles Times (sports investigations, NHL/MLB beat work, law enforcement/courts and boxing/UFC) to join The Athletic, and then USA Today. Pugmire’s stint at The Times started with the first Israel Vazquez-Rafael Marquez fight and the Oscar De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather Jnr then-record pay-per-view, leading through a slew of ringside assignments at major bouts, including Mayweather-Pacquiao, Mayweather-Canelo and the Canelo-Golovkin trilogy. Lance’s appreciation for boxing is rooted in his admiration and appreciation for the fighters, gladiators who have proven to be the most forthcoming and candid of all the athletes he has interviewed over a career dating to 1990. Lance was honored to be named the 2022 winner of the Boxing Writers Association of America Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence and he’s collected many BWAA writing awards in categories ranging from breaking news to deep-dive long features.
