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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Boxing’s most loaded weekend in years is growing by one more title fight.
Badou Jack’s first defense of his WBC cruiserweight belt will come against mandatory contender Ryan Rozicki of Canada on the May 3 Saudi Arabia card headlined by Canelo Alvarez versus William Scull.
Three-division champion Jack, 41, hasn’t fought since winning the belt with a 12th-round TKO of Junior Makabu on February 26, 2023. The former super-middleweight and light-heavyweight champion now resides in Dubai, and now heads to his fifth consecutive bout in the Middle East.
The Alvarez-Scull card also includes the super-middleweight rematch between Mexico’s Jaime Munguia and France’s Bruno Surace, following Surace’s upset-of-the-year knockout of Munguia in December, along with a heavyweight tilt pitting massive Martin Bakole versus fellow African Efe Ajagba.
Rozicki, 20-1-1 (19 KOs), fought Yamil Alberto Peralta to a December draw for the WBC interim title. Rozicki, 30, had won five consecutive bouts by knockout or stoppage before that, with four of those lasting three rounds or less.
Jack, 28-3-3 (17 KOs), has defeated the likes of George Groves, Anthony Dirrell, Lucien Bute and Nathan Cleverly while posting two draws within a three-fight span against James DeGale and then-light-heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson. He also endured one of the worst cuts in years in a 2019 loss to Marcus Browne.
His extended layoff is something to watch in this spot considering his advanced age.
Jack pursued becoming a four-division champion as the WBC’s Bridgerweight title to no avail during his hiatus, getting downgraded to champion-in-recess. He was then reinstated to full champion at last year’s WBC convention.
Frenchman Surace was thought to be in the frame for Canelo, but instead has the rematch with Munguia, and Bakole – having suffered a recent defeat to Joseph Parker – still fights Ajagba, in a fight that was agreed weeks ago.
The intrigue adds to a massive Cinco de Mayo weekend of bouts that includes the separate comebacks of Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney along with Teofimo Lopez’s WBO super-lightweight title defense against top-ranked contender Arnold Barboza Jnr on May 2 at New York’s Times Square and Naoya Inoue’s defense of his undisputed super-bantamweight title on May 4 in Las Vegas.
Also on the Riyadh card, Eddy Reynoso’s light-heavyweight prospect Brayan Leon, a 6-0 Cuban who lives in Las Vegas, meets Mexico’s Aaron Guerrero, and Mexican southpaw Marco Verde takes on Michel Polina.
