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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Jose Ramirez is set to make his Golden Boy Promotions debut against two-division world champion Rances Barthelemy.
The bout will take place on Saturday, April 27th, at Ramirez’s ‘home arena’: the SaveMart Center, in Fresno, Calif. Ramirez (28-1, 18 KOs) is a product from nearby Avenal, who rose through the ranks in front of the local fans’ eyes as he became a world champion. He hopes that against Barthelemy (30-2-1, 15 KOs) he can have a performance that allows him to get that big fight that has eluded him in recent memory.
That hypothetical big fight could be with Ryan Garcia, who is fresh off his career-best win against Devin Haney. At least, that is what the top officials at Golden Boy Promotions believe.
Eric Gomez, the President of Golden Boy Promotions, spoke to BoxingScene about the future of Ramirez.
“We are looking to sit down with Ryan Garcia in a couple of weeks, and [Jose Ramirez’s] name is definitely going to come up,” Gomez told BoxingScene. “That is a possibility and that is the kind of fight he wants.”
Ramirez stated at the press conference that he’d fight at a catchweight for the chance to fight Ryan Garcia. Now Gomez says that Ramirez has entertained the idea of moving to welterweight. Ramirez has been a career junior welterweight, while Garcia has yet to fight at welterweight but came in 3.2 lbs over his contracted weight agreement for his fight with Haney, which he won by majority decision.
Garcia has even floated the idea of facing Sebastian Fundora at 154 lbs on social media. It appears that if Ramirez has a virtuoso performance on Saturday, he is in the mix for a fight with Ryan Garcia.
“He has told us that he is willing to go all the way to [welterweight] to fight Ryan Garcia,” Gomez recalled. “So that is an option for Ryan and if Ryan is willing to do it, then we are going to consider it.”
Gomez stated that Ramirez-Barthelemy is a good fight and competitive. Barthelemy, who once represented Cuba at the Olympics, can move. Still, he is now 38 years old. Ramirez, 31, has struggled in the past with elusive fighters such as Viktor Postol and Jose Zepeda. The match-up might not be pretty on paper, but it will answer some questions about Ramirez moving forward, as he needs to make a strong impression with his new promoter to call for the big fights that he wants.
“This is going to be a competitive fight,” Gomez explained. “Jose wants the biggest names.”
