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.
You can cross off Regis Prograis from your fantasy welterweight matchups, at least in the short term.
The former 140-pound titleholder from New Orleans has no plans on moving up to boxing’s so-called glamor division, not until, that is, he nabs a title in his current weight class.
Prograis won the WBA 140-pound title from Kiryl Relikh in the spring of 2019 before dropping it to Scotland’s Josh Taylor in their well-received and closely-contested junior welterweight unification clash later that same year.
“Not right now,” Prograis, who lives and trains in Houston, told FightHype when asked if he was going to move up in weight. “My goal is to become a two-time champion [at 140]. Of course, money is a big motivator. Maybe they [offer a big fight] at 147…maybe. But I want to be a champion again at 140 before I move up.”
Picking up another belt 140, however, is predicated on what Taylor plans to do. The undisputed champion of the division, Taylor is expected to take on mandatory challenger Jack Catterall later this year. There has been some talk that Taylor could then drop his belts to move up to 147, in which case it is conceivable that one of the four major titles could come into play for Prograis.
“I’ll definitely go to 147 someday, but, like I said, my goal right now is to be champion again at 140,” Prograis continued. “It’s just something I personally [feel] that I should still be world champion with that whole Josh Taylor thing. I feel I should still be world champion, so I just wanna be a champion again before I go up to 147.”
Of course, it helps that Prograis (26-1, 22 KOs) has plenty of alluring opposition in and around his weight class, giving him few reasons to bolt to a new division. Most recently, Prograis had been in talks with Mikey Garcia (40-1, 30 KOs) for a bout in the fall, but their discussions fell through. He also apparently has interest in facing the top dogs of the 135-pound class, assuming they all move up to 140 in the somewhat near future.
“Right now, all my fights are going to be big no matter what,” Prograis said. “All of them are going to be big names. Mikey, that’s a big name. Maybe Adrien Broner. Maybe Gervonta Davis. Maybe a Devin Haney, maybe a Teofimo [Lopez]. That’s five people that I named. All of those are big name fights, all of those are big money fights. Like I said I think I’m going to fight big fights no matter what.
“Going forward it’s just going to be big fights and we’re going to be fighting for the belt, anyway.”
Prograis, who is no longer affiliated with any one promoter or network, fought earlier this year, in April, a stoppage win over Ivan Redkach on the Jake Paul-Ben Askren card at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.
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